The SGF the nation deserves (II)

When the first part of this article appeared last week, I was inundated with messages on the omission of two names that were arguably among the most accomplished of all the holders of the office of SGF. Both Allison Ayida and Liman Ciroma held the two most powerful offices (SGF and Head of Service of the Federation) at very critical times of our lives as a nation in the 1970s. Actually in the last article I wanted the narration to begin in 1979 with the return of democracy and the beginning of the Second Republic. This is because it was at the start of the Second Republic that the office was bifurcated into what is now known as the office of the SGF dealing with the more routine political matters of state, and the OHSF (Office of the Head of Service of the Federation) which handles matters pertaining mostly to the bureaucracy. However when one considers the immense contributions of both Ayida and Ciroma to the growth and importance of the office, then one could understand the furore over the omission of their names.

Allison Ayida can be described as one of the ‘best of the best’ the Federal Civil Service had thrown up in in the mid-1970s. An Oxford university trained economist Ayida served four Heads of Government, three of them as SGF (then referred to as SFMG - Secretary to the Military Government of the Federation). Actually it was General Yakubu Gowon as Head of State who appointed him SFMG in the dying days of his regime in April 1975. General Murtala Mohammed who took over after the coup in July 1975 decided to retain him probably as an institutional memory. When General Obasanjo took over after Murtala’s assassination in February 1976, he also decided to retain Allison Ayida as SFMG before finally letting him go in 1977.

Earlier in the 1960s Allison Ayida had served meritoriously as Permanent Secretary in a number of ministries, particularly in the Ministry of Economic Affairs where he had a long sojourn and was even credited with the authorship of the National Development Plans which were successfully prepared and executed in the 1960s and 1970s. Obviously by the time General Gowon appointed him SFMG, he was one of the most prepared for the job.

Liman Ciroma who was appointed after Allison Ayida was a well-rounded public officer. He had studied archaeology and history in the London University and Birmingham University where he became the first Nigerian to bag an Archaeology honours degree. He first saw service in the Federal Department of Antiquities in Lagos before he was drawn to Kaduna to join the Northern Nigerian Administrative cadre where there were serious shortages of qualified indigenous staff to take over from those expatriates left behind by the colonial administration.

Liman Ciroma served mostly in the Premier’s office with a stint as Provincial Secretary, Niger Province. He was appointed a Permanent Secretary before the 1966 coup and when states were created a year later he went to the North Eastern State as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education. It was from that perch he moved back to the Federal Civil Service as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industries. He was posted in many ministries before General Obasanjo appointed him as SFMG in 1977.

Liman Ciroma became SFMG at a one of the most turbulent times in the history of this nation. The Military Government had gotten tired of involvement in governance and had set for itself a programme of disengagement and handing over the reins of government to civilians. As the chief bureaucrat in the government of General Obasanjo, Liman Ciroma superintended that program closely, starting with formation of the Constituents Assembly to fashion out a new constitution, to lifting the ban on political activities, then to the elections, and finally to successful hand-over to a civilian administration in 1979. He retired that year at the fairly youthful age of 48 when the ovation was clearly loudest. Liman Ciroma - even his peers deferred to him as ‘Mallam Liman’ to emphasise his integrity and modesty - lived the rest of his life in Kaduna where he died in 2004.

We have showcased the lives of former SGFs and their pedigree so as to emphasise the requirements of that office. At the risk of belabouring the point, we say that the office is too central, too crucial, to the effective performance of the federal government that only the most suitable should occupy it. The glowing testimonies of former Presidents when they referred to their SGFs, is a case in point.

President Shehu Shagari in his book, ‘Beckoned to Serve’, said of the late Shehu Musa, the SGF: ‘A man of courteous but authoritative bearing, Shehu Musa was clever, impressively efficient, and widely respected by his colleagues. He seemed all the more apposite as I felt that our new democratic voyage needed as the first SGF someone who knew his way around the Federal bureaucracy, how it worked or didn’t work. Moreover as a nonparty man, he would not be seen as a rival by Ministers or Special Advisers. As the SGF, the homo type of Britain’s Secretary to the Cabinet, Shehu Musa was unarguably the single most powerful official’.

Similarly General Obasanjo recalling his time as military Head of State in his book, ‘Not my Will’, said of the late Liman Ciroma: ‘Mallam Ciroma brought a perceptible change to the service. Ciroma was a stickler to the rules and ethos of the service, a quiet displinarian who was firm, respected and fatherly. When he felt strongly on an issue, he never hesitated to put forward his arguments firmly but respectfully. When he was convinced of the superiority of your argument, he conceded gracefully and supported loyally - Mallam Ciroma was normally deliberate, unruffled, unobtrusive and incisive. He would not bend the rule rather he would attempt to convince his colleagues in the service to live within the rules and regulations’.

In the same book, General Obasanjo had said of Allison Ayida, ‘He was one of the pillars of the service in the dark days of the second coup d’etat in 1966 and in the days of the problems following the coup. I benefitted from his experience, his knowledge and his comprehension of the service’.

As a civilian Head of State, President Obasanjo paid glowing tributes to the SGF, Uffot Ekaette, in his latest book, ‘My Watch’: ‘I had known Uffot Ekaette when I was military Head of State. He had worked in the cabinet secretariat for a few years. He was diligent, dedicated and hardworking at the time. He had since acquired more experience as Permanent Secretary and Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State. His name was music to my ears when Obong Attah recommended him as SGF, a post that had been zoned to the South-South geopolitical zone. I could not have gotten a better person from that zone at that time, whose chemistry would synchronize with mine. He was a gem and he remained so to the end of my administration’.

We pray for President Buhari to have an SGF who would measure up to qualities demonstrated by these illustrious predecessors. We pray that he would work amicably with such an official so that at the end of tenure, President Buhari would pen similar superlative praises for the SGF.