Arise News anchor Reuben Abati has called on the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, to resign following her admission that due diligence was not adequately carried out in the process that led to the recognition of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Speaking on The Morning Show on Thursday, Abati argued that Walson-Jack's acknowledgement exposed serious lapses within the Federal Civil Service, saying the failure to verify the authenticity of documents before assigning staff to the agency had brought embarrassment to the Nigerian government.
His comments followed Walson-Jack's appearance before lawmakers, where she admitted that the necessary verification procedures were not thoroughly conducted before the purported agency was recognised, despite questions surrounding its legal status.
Abati said the admission amounted to an acceptance of institutional failure and insisted that it should have consequences. He also urged authorities to conduct a wider investigation into the creation and operation of government agencies to determine whether similar lapses had occurred elsewhere.
“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.”
He further questioned how the self-acclaimed Director-General of the PFIPC, Adeyemi Adeniyi, was able to receive government personnel without officials first confirming the authenticity of the agency's establishment documents.
“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, and 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 clear of how the Nigerian government is run. So resignation will be a personal responsibility of Mrs Wilson Jack.”