Workers at the Federal Capital Territory Administration have rejected the posting of Dr Magdalene Ajani as permanent secretary to the FCTA.
President Bola Tinubu had approved the redeployment and assignment of portfolios to 24 permanent secretaries, including Ajani, on Friday.
Ajani was formally at the Ministry of Transportation before her redeployment to the FCTA to replace Olusade Adesola.
Politics Nigeria learnt that Adesola, the incumbent permanent secretary, is due to retire from service on January 29, 2024.
Dozens of the FCTA staff had expected that Adesola would be the last permanent secretary to be posted to the FCTA, considering Tinubu’s approval for the establishment of an independent Civil Service Commission (CSC) for the FCT.
At a protest on Monday, they decried the posting of Dr Ajani to the FCTA despite the existing law.
This law was to allow career progression for civil servants in the FCTA, but their expectation was dashed with the news of Ajani’s posting to the FCTA.
In October 2023, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike had said that the law for the creation of the CSC had been signed since 2018 but was yet to be implemented.
“So, I wrote a memo to Mr President. I say, you have a Renewed Hope agenda; civil servants in FCT are suffering; they have lost hope,” Wike said.
“They are not committed to work. Why should I be working because at the end of the day, I can not get to the apex of my career? As such, we must implement that 2018 law as passed by the National Assembly. If there are challenges, of course, there is no law that is perfect,” the minister explained.
