Following the report by PREMIUM TIMES exposing the refusal of the management of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to implement the eight-year tenure policy for directors, the agency has written the Director in charge of the Establishment of Private Universities, Constance Goddy-Nnadi, to retire from service.
This newspaper is, however, aware of Mrs Goddy-Nnadi’s insistence that she would not retire from the service until 18 July. The reason for the choice of the July date by the official is unclear as of the time of this report.
The new development was contained in the updates provided on the matter by the Acting Director of Human Resources, Victoria Omorodion, during the agency’s management meeting held on Tuesday, 26 March.
Sources at the NUC, however, informed this newspaper that Mrs Goddy-Nnadi’s position might not be unconnected to the commission’s failure to ask the two deputy executive secretaries of the agency – Chris Maiyaki and Noel Saliu – who have also spent more than eight years as directors, to retire from the service.
But both the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) have kept mum on the issue, even as they have refused to reply to PREMIUM TIMES’ Freedom of Information request sent to them.
Backstory
The eight-year retirement policy for directors, which is contained in the nation’s newly revised Public Service Rules, 2021, came into effect in July 2023. It followed the directive to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government (MDAs) by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan.
Worried by PREMIUM TIMES’ report on the matter on 25 February titled: “EXCLUSIVE: Controversy as top NUC officials snub eight years tenure limit rule, refuse to retire,” Mrs Omorodion at the agency’s management meeting on 28 February presented a position paper detailing her findings on the PSR, especially as it relates to the eight-year-tenure limit for directors.
The position paper, a copy of which PREMIUM TIMES exclusively obtained, gave the background into the new PSR and the circular issued by the HOCSF.
While Mrs Omorodion claimed her office did not receive a copy of the circular directing compliance, she also reported that an unnamed human resources director at the office of the head of the civil service of the federation said no MDA could deny the receipt of the circular.
Resolutions at management meeting
The minutes of the NUC’s management meeting noted that “…Management Steering Committee had interacted with the Acting DHR on Monday, 26th February, following the PREMIUM TIMES’ online report, and directed her to prepare a position paper for the consideration of management, after extensive consultations with the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education.”
But after Mrs Omorodion’s paper was presented, the management’s decisions were captured in the minutes as follows:
“Management decided that Acting DHR should: issue a notice to the director(s) to be affected by Rule 020909, Page 35 of the Revised Public Service Rules; and initiate further consultations with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to further clarify any uncertainty regarding the application of the Revised Public Service Rule 020909 to the office of the deputy executive secretary.”
No OHCSF clarification
In disregard for the directive of the management at its meeting on 28 February, the Acting Director of Human Resources, Mrs Omorodion refused to seek clarifications from both FME and OHCSF on the applicability of the tenure policy for directors including the two deputy executive secretaries in the agency.
Mrs Omorodion only wrote Mrs Goddy-Nnadi to retire from the service based on Rule 020909 of the Revised Public Service Rules.
“However, at Management meeting today (Tuesday), it was reported that the Director, Establishment of Private Universities (Mrs Goddy-Nnadi) was advised to retire and she responded that she would retire by 18 July 2024. The question is why should she select when to retire when the new PSR has been effective since 2023?” a source at the meeting who does not want to be named told this newspaper.
The source added: “On the position of DES, the Acting Director Human Resources said she had not sought the clearance as directed by Management. Instead, she repeated that she believes the DESs are not affected. After discussion, it was agreed that the clearance should be sought as earlier directed. Curiously, the Acting ES (Maiyaki) said himself, the Acting DHR and one other will visit the Head of Service to seek the clearance. This is unusual and against civil service practice.”
The source added that the “standard practice is for NUC to write officially seeking the clearance,” noting that; “a visit by the Acting ES cannot rest the matter and is perhaps an indication of fear of outcome by the DES.”
“This is one of the reasons Mrs Goddy-Nnadi rejected the call for her immediate retirement because she believes both Maiyaki and Saliu ought to be affected by the same policy,” another source at the meeting told this newspaper.
FME, OHCSF keep mum
On 29 February, PREMIUM TIMES submitted a letter to the education ministry seeking clarification on the tenure policy and why NUC, an agency under its supervision, has refused to implement the rule.
Earlier this month when this newspaper asked the ministry for its response to the letter, officials disclosed that it was receiving attention.
An official, who asked not to be named as he had no permission to talk to journalists, said the letter was received in the office of the permanent secretary in the ministry on 5 March and was passed to the director of human resources on 7 March, who on the same day passed it to the office of the director of legal services.
However, many weeks later, the ministry has yet to reply to the letter.
On its part, more than two weeks after her office received the PREMIUM TIMES’ letter seeking clarification on the matter, an official at the OHCSF who identified herself as Patricia, said the date of the newspaper’s earlier report on the matter which was mistakenly given as 25 February 2023 instead of 25 February 2024 should be corrected before the office would react officially.
The correction has since been done and submitted to the office, but no response has been received.
PREMIUM TIMES
