President berates perm secs for slowing down governance

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had a serious talk with the leadership of the Federal Civil Service yesterday, Feb. 22.

The President said the service was slowing down the implementation of his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda. 

The President said it was shocking that timelines for approved policies have deliberately been delayed by civil servants. 

Present at the meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, were the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), Accountant-General of the Federation, Auditor-General of the Federation and federal permanent secretaries. 

The President said the proper thing for civil servants to do whenever they have reservations about any policy, programme or initiative is to offer suggestions. Armed with facts and figures, Tinubu queried why the civil service was “abysmally slow in carrying out his people-oriented programmes.”

He listed some of the programmes being dragged down by the civil service as the N25,000 wage award to workers and the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative (Pi-CNG). 

He faulted the civil service attitude to the reform package designed to create jobs and boost the economy. 

Some of the reform programmes include the provision of a single-digit loan of N1billion to 75 enterprises; N50,000 grant each for 1,300 Nano businesses; N75 billion for 100,000 businesses and startups; and the investment of N100 billion in gas-powered buses for mass transit.

The President said the reforms have not been implemented by the civil service.