Organised labour under the auspices of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has again urged the Presidency to immediately direct the accountant-general of the federation, Ahmed Idris, to exit service having been due for retirement on November 25, 2020, when he attained the age of 60 years.
The union emphasised that it has become imperative for Idris to vacate office in order to avert an industrial upheaval within the federal public service.
In the letter to the presidency through the office of the head of the civil service of the federation and signed by its secretary-general, Alade Bashir Lawal, the ASCSN implored President Muhammadu Buhari to put necessary machinery in place towards ensuring that the current accountant-general exit the service.
The union in the letter said “going by the report reaching the national secretariat of the association, Idris is not in any way prepared to leave office on the due date of November 25, 2020, when he became exactly 60 years of age” in order to give the opportunity to one of the over 200 qualified directors in the office of the accountant-general of the federation who will be selected, after the necessary interview, to occupy that post so as to restore faith in the system and boost the morale of civil servants.
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According to the letter quoting public service rule 020810, “the compulsory retirement age for all grades in the service shall be 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier.”
“No officer shall be allowed to remain in service after attaining the retirement age of 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier.”
The ASCSN expressed optimism that given the pedigree of the head of the service, the presidency would urgently intervene in the matter so that the service could be saved from the possible industrial crisis that may result if Idris continued to refuse to leave the office.
It called on civil society groups, patriotic Nigerians, religious groups, royal fathers, etc, to prevail on the Presidency to order Idris to proceed on retirement and not wait until the union embarked on industrial actions only for them to start to appeal to its leaders to call off the strike.
Further checks revealed that Idris who is now claiming not to be a civil servant because he wants to cling to the post of accountant-general of the federation, worked at the defunct Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF), National Poverty Eradication Programme (NA
PEP), Ministry of Police Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Office of the Accountant-general of the Federation, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ministry of Mines and Steel Development before he was appointed the accountant-general of the Federation by President Muhammadu Buhari out of three directors sent to him for approval.
The ASCSN noted that because Idris was aware of his status as a civil servant, on October 7, 2020, he wrote to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), informing him that he (Idris) will be 60 years of age on November 25, 2020, and “obediently seek for SGF’S guidance and clarification” but the office of the SGF knowing full well the dangerous game Idris was trying to play decided to keep mum.“the argument that Idris is a political appointee is spurious and delusional. He is a civil servant who has turned 60 years and should therefore leave the service immediately.”
