Alleged Abuse of Office: CSOs Protest Against Head of Service Yemi-Esan in Abuja
- The head of the civil service of the federation, Mrs. Folashade Yemi-Esan, has been asked to resign from her role
- The demand was made by a group known as Coalition of Civil Societies for Equity, Justice and Good Governance
- Mrs. Yemi-Esan, however, issued a rebuttal accusing the group of bias and twisting facts to suit its narrative
FCT, Abuja - A group, Coalition of Civil Societies for Equity, Justice and Good Governance, on Thursday, March 3, staged a protest against the head of the civil service of the federation, Mrs. Folashade Yemi-Esan in Abuja.
The group said the procession was geared towards demanding action on allegations of abuse of office by Mrs. Yemi-Esan.
Source: Facebook
Speaking to journalists during the protest, the leader of the group, Comrade Danesi Momoh alleged that there is an ongoing rot in the office of the head of the civil service of the federation.
He said the group had earlier called on the federal government to sack Yemi-Esan, but the Buhari-led administration failed to act on the matter.
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He stated:
“Sequel to our 7 days ultimatum, and the failure of the federal government to act by sacking the Head of Service for gross misconduct as well as her inability to honourably resign due to her retrogressive policies, we are here today to sound another note of warning on the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and demand that justice be done for the greater good of all Nigerians.
“Instead of facing the issues we had previously raised and addressing them appropriately, the office of the Head of Service decided rather to deny the allegations with unsubstantiated points.
“The Head of Service is being economical with the truth and must be made accountable for her anti-government and anti-youth policies.
“It is totally false that the office of the Head of Service does not recruit. Apart from the official recruitment into the federal civil service, the Head of Service has been known to conduct recruitments from the backdoor for a long time even in the face of the so called embargo on employment.
“Not just are universities understaffed, federal colleges and even secondary schools are grossly understaffed because the Head of Service has been playing politics with sensitive national issues in gross violation of existing federal rules. This is contrary to Buhari's anti-corruption stance and must not be allowed to continue.
“It is on record that many universities have failed their accreditation and re-accreditation because the Head of service has blocked the employment process. These are critical manpower needs that are not supposed to be politicized. Her attitude is anti people and uncalled for in an administration that is constantly fighting corruption.
“Enough is enough. If this corruption is not dealt with decisively, the office of Head of Service will rank high as the most corrupt establishment before the end of the tenure.
“This we must not allow to happen.
“Consequently, we hereby give final warning that within 5 days if the Head of Service fails to honourably resign or the federal government fails to sack her from office, we will be left with no other alternative than to mobilise and block the office untill the right thing is done.”
Yemi-Esan reacts to allegations against her office
Meanwhile, in a rejoinder issued on her behalf by her spokesman, AbdulGaniyu Aminu, Mrs Yemi-Esan responded to the allegations that many universities are grossly understaffed.
She said the embargo on employment in the Federal Public Service since March 2020 is still in force with the exception of health and security sectors as well as certain critical vacancy positions which must be filled.
She noted that her office is not a recruiting agency, stressing that it is wrong to allege that she and her team have been secretly recruiting staff to fill up vacancies.
She stated that to ensure that federal establishments and tertiary institutions have critical manpower/human resources for the sustainability of functions, her office, the ministry of education and the NUC will ensure that each application for waiver for employment from universities is properly scrutinized before being considered.
She added that it is also a breach of administrative procedure for higher institutions of learning to write directly to her office in an attempt to evade scrutiny by the aforementioned supervising/regulatory authorities.
Source: Legit.ng
