- It’s a violation of Civil Service Rules
By Olawale Lamina
A civil society organization, Stand Up Nigeria, has raised concerns over alleged moves by the newly appointed Accountant-General of the Federation,AGF, Shamsedeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, to create and fill two unconstitutional positions within his office, that of the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff.
The group declared it is finalizing a formal petition to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, describing the move as a violation of civil service rules that could encourage waste, promote patronage, and further erode public trust in federal institutions.
The Executive Director Stand Up Nigeria, Joseph O. Alade, in a statement said: “We are currently in the process of forwarding a petition to the Head of Service to stop what we see as a creeping personalization of a critical federal institution,” said Joseph O. Alade, Executive Director of Stand Up Nigeria. “These positions do not exist in the approved civil service structure and amount to a breach of civil service rules.”
Alade noted that while the creation of such positions may appear “minor” or “harmless,” they represent the very type of casual impunity that underpins the dysfunction of Nigeria’s governance system.
“This is how it starts — a Chief of Staff here, a Deputy there, and suddenly a public office becomes a private fiefdom. These small anomalies are not just technicalities; they are symptomatic of a much deeper crisis. This is part of Nigeria’s problem — we normalize illegality at the foundational level,” he stressed..
Stand Up Nigeria therefore called on the Head of Service to halt the creation and staffing of the unconstitutional offices, investigate the circumstances behind the move, and reaffirm the importance of rule-based public service management.
The group warned that failure to take appropriate actions will result in escalating the issue through broader civic coalitions.
Meanwhile, the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation had yet to respond to the allegation as at the time of this report.
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