C'River Gov't May Demote 15 Permanent Secretaries

By Victor UDU 

Fifteen Permanent Secretaries may be demoted or retired from the Cross River State Civil service, the committee set up by government to sanitize and streamline appointments has recommended.

The Committee set up by the Bassey Otu-led administration several months ago recently completed its assignment and submitted final report but government is yet to take action.

An Advisory Committee headed by a reputable Permanent Secretary, Dr Aye Henshaw was appointed in the wake of the present administration to look into the issue and has made the initial recommendations which culminated in the appointment of Dr. Mary-Therea Ikwen as Chairman of a substantive committee to sanitize the Service.

The Mary-Theresa Ikwen-led committee has also completed its assignment and submitted reports to government.

Ikwen told The Beagle News in a phone chat that her committee looked at the qualifications of those concerned, years of service, service records and career progression among other considerations to arrive at the recommendations.

She disclosed that those affected have no degrees, had deficiency in their documents while some were already retired but illegally extended their service years.

Ikwen a former Head of Service in the state did not confirm the number of those affected but she admitted that some permanent Secretaries would certainly be affected.

The Beagle News gathered that the governor is delaying the implementation of the Committee's report because of pressure from some stakeholders who have been responsible for some of these promotions and appointments.

So far, it has gradually taken political coloration as most of the culprits have cried to their masters who have pulled their weight behind them.

Meanwhile it is not certain what the number one will do in the face of these pressure and like one source stated we hope it would not be forgotten like the issue of retrieving vehicles recently died.

Another source who wanted to be anonymous said the issue is service matter and should not be allowed to die else the service would suffer for it if not now then in the near future.