Her Excellency, the Permanent Secretary

Like her or not, Patience Faka Jonathan, wife of Nigeria’s President is one woman who loves to hug the limelight. Either for good or wrong reasons, the President’s wife is someone the media cannot be tired of.

As hilarious and unbelievable as some of her faux pas may sound, they have become quotes that may yet immortalise a woman who only last week was promoted to a permanent secretary in the civil service of Bayelsa State. Again, like most things associated with the First Lady, her appointment as permanent secretary may have generated a storm.

Soon after her appointment by Seriake Dickson, Bayelsa State governor, was announced on the radio by the Office of the Head of Service, Bayelsa State, controversies had swarmed around it like bee to honey. For one, many wondered if the state governor had any power to appoint the First Lady as a permanent secretary. And as if to pre-empt such questions, the statement announcing her appointment had said that, “by the constitutional power conferred on the state governor, Seriake Dickson, in section 203 sub-section 2c, Dame Patience Jonathan and seventeen others have been elevated to the position of Permanent Secretary in the state civil service.” The section of the constitution referred to in the statement gives the state governor the power to appoint people into positions of permanent secretary, Office of the Head of the Civil Service and heads of parastatals and agencies of government. It also provides that such persons would have to cease from holding such offices when the governor who appointed them ceases to hold office too.

That settled the next question that agitated many minds across the country was the proprietary or otherwise of the appointment of the First Lady. In this case, a civil servant in the employ of the Lagos State government who pleaded anonymity argued that the appointment though supported by the constitution, is not right and is capable of killing the morale of civil servants.

He insisted that under normal circumstances, the position of a permanent secretary ought to be reserved for career civil servants and should be attained through years of service, experience and seniority.

Although the First Lady was said to have served in the Old Rivers State civil service before being transferred to Bayelsa State civil service after the state was created in 1996, there is no record of her serving beyond May 29, 1999 when her husband became the deputy governor of Bayelsa State. Her published profiles have so far indicated that she was only in the civil service until her husband’s election as deputy governor. In the same vein, her published profiles never indicated that she was on leave of absence from the state civil service before re-emerging last week as a permanent secretary.

This, says the civil servant the magazine spoke to, is simply symptomatic of the aberration that state governors have brought to bear on the civil service. He said over the years, state governors have continued to appoint people from outside the civil service into position of permanent secretary. “The governors feel they can do anything and civil servants cannot challenge them because they can be sacked,” the source said.

Beyond legal arguments, Jonathan’s appointment as a permanent secretary can be traced to the discretionary powers of Dickson who apparently took the decision more for political reasons. That is the interpretation of a lecturer. “Good thought from Governor Dickson, he's learnt from the mistakes of his predecessor by promoting the special-adviser-at-night to President Goodluck Jonathan,” says Jassie Akinwole of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi State.

On the other hand, Ethel Reuben-Odoyi, a public commentator, sees nothing wrong in the First Lady working as a civil servant and getting promoted. “Please my fellow Nigerians let’s be constructive on issues and not to attach sentiments. The office of the First Lady has no constitutional role in Nigerian constitution or any monthly allocation. There are leaders in the world whose spouses are engaged in normal office jobs, so if the First Lady is still working as a civil servant and she is due for the appointment then nothing is wrong with her appointment,” she said.

Indeed, Jonathan will not be the first wife of a Nigerian Head of State to hold normal jobs. Justice Fatima Abubakar, wife of Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria’s former military head of state held on to her job as a judge while her husband was in office. There was also the case of Victoria Gowon who continued her job as a nurse after her husband became the military head of state.

Born in Port Harcourt, Patience Jonathan earned her school certificate in 1976, and passed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, in 1980. In 1989, she obtained the National Certificate of Education, NCE, in Mathematics and Biology from the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt. She then proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt and studied Biology and Psychology.

Jonathan started her career as a teacher at the Stella Maris College, Port Harcourt and Sports Institute Isake. She then moved to the banking sector in 1997, where she established the first community bank in Port Harcourt called the Akpo Community Bank. She served as marketing manager of Imiete Community Bank. She returned to the classroom briefly again as a teacher. Eventually she was transferred to the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education, where she served until May 29, 1999 when her husband became the deputy governor of the state.

culled from Tell