PFIPC probe: Head of Service should resign – Abati

Arise News anchor, Reuben Abati, says the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has exposed the Nigerian government to ridicule and should resign.

Speaking on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’ on Thursday, Abati criticised the Federal Civil Service under her watch for failing to ensure the authenticity of documents before establishing agencies and deploying staff.

He was reacting to Walson-Jack’s admission that due diligence was not thoroughly carried out in the process that led to the recognition of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC.

Abati called for a comprehensive investigation into the issue, suggesting that the Civil Service’s inefficiencies are a source of national embarrassment. He demanded proper audit of all government agencies.

Abati said, “The question of self-indictment and her admission of guilt and lack of diligence should be properly looked into because in other countries of the world, this admission will have been followed with a letter of resignation.

“This is because what the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has just done is to say that her department has failed the country in the discharge of the professional responsibility of that office.

“They gave the self-acclaimed Director-General of the PFIPC, Adeyemi Adeniyi, staff without even establishing the authenticity of the Establishment Act, making him the Director General of that ghost agency.

“The question to ask is: How many other agencies of government, whether presidential or statutory, have been created and have been given staff, given offices, put in the budget on the value and strength of fake documents?

“So the investigation should be how far deeper has this gone? Because it’s an embarrassment to the Nigerian government. It’s a ridicule very clearly of how the Nigerian government is run. So resignation will be a personal responsibility of Mrs Wilson Jack.”