The Niger State House of Assembly has asked the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ibrahim Ladan and the Attorney General (AG), Nasara Dan-Mallam, to appear before it over tenure elongation for the Head of Service (HoS).
They were summoned on Wednesday during plenary to explain the rationale behind the governor’s decision to extend the appointment of the HoS, Alhaji Yabagi Sule, in spite of attaining the retirement age of 60 years.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the HoS was due for retirement on Jan. 15, having attained the age of 60 years but had his appointment extended to May 29 by the governor.
The lawmakers passed the resolution following a motion moved under matters of urgent importance by Ahmad Bello, member representing Agwarra state constituency.
“Section 208 subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution provides that the appointment to the office of Head of Service shall only be made from amongst the permanent secretaries or equivalent rank in the civil service.
“All civil servants of whom the Head of Service is one, are guided by the civil service rules.
“Section 8 rule 02807 (b) of civil service rules of Niger state provides that the compulsory retirement age for all grades in the civil service shall be 60 years or 35 years of service, whichever is earlier,” he added.
In his submission, Malik Madaki, member representing Bosso constituency said he could not find any section of the constitution that backs the governor’s action.
In the same vein, the member representing Gbako, Abdullahi Mammagi, noted that extending Sule’s tenure could lead to a crisis in the civil service.
“What this means is that the Head of Service will no longer have the moral right to ask any civil servant to go on retirement because a precedent has been set.
“A civil servant could refuse to go on retirement tomorrow because of things like this.
“We’ve had fantastic Heads of Service in the past but when it was time for them to go, they left without any problem,” he added.
The Assembly unanimously resolved that the SSG and AG should appear before it during plenary on Tuesday, Jan. 29 to provide explanations.
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