Buhari sacks permanent secretaries

In what appears to be a shake up in Nigeria’s ministries, President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked some permanent secretaries ahead of tomorrow’s swearing-in of ministers.

Buhari on Tuesday ordered mass retirements of Permanent Secretaries 24 hours ahead of inauguration of his maiden cabinet. The President had earlier met with the affected Permanent Secretaries in company of his Chief of Staff and the Head of Service, at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday afternoon.

The exact number of Permanent Secretaries involved in the mass purge is not certain as the figures being quoted ranged from 17 to 20.

PM News learnt that some of the Permanent Secretaries affected include that of Health, Power, Petroleum, Finance, Defence, Housing, Transport and Urban Development and Special Duties.

Though no reason was given for the mass retirements, this magazine however gathered that the action followed recent appointment of Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita as the Head of Service of the Federation.

The new HOS, it was learnt is very low in the hierarchy of the Permanent Secretaries and the sack of her seniors was intended to avoid the awkward situation in which they will have to be taking orders from her.

But some of the Permanent Secretaries were also said to have been involved in politics during that administration of President Goodluck Jonathan while some have been indicted for sundry corrupt practices.