Aggrieved BPE Directors Petition Shettima over Alleged Breach of Public Service Rules

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja 

A group of deputy directors in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) have petitioned the Vice President Kashim Shettima over alleged breach of civil service rules in a recent promotion of some directors in the privatisation agency.

The petition captioned ‘Urgent Need to Address the Circumvention of Extant Public Service Rules in the Recent Appointment of Two Directors in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)’, a copy of which was obtained by THISDAY was dated April 29, 2026.

Shetimma is the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) which oversees the BPE, the Council’s secretariat.

The petitioners also copied the Director General of the BPE, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), among others.

The Concerned Senior Deputy Directors of the BPE who identified themselves as Sanusi Abdu-Ali, Omotunde Balogun, Paschal Ogechi Harry, and Iliya Saidu Kure, recalled that at its meeting of April 23, 2025, the NCP approved  the appointment of two directors in the persons of Mrs. Saratu Gafai, and Mrs. Grace Ben-Okezie.

“Your Excellency is invited to note that the promoted directors (Mrs. Saratu Gafai & Mrs. Grace Ben-Okezie) were promoted Deputy Directors on the 1st of January 2021and 1st of January 2024 respectively.

“Before them were nine Deputy Directors who have been in that position for over 11 years, some were promoted in 2010 while some were promoted in 2019.

“This means that the newly promoted directors had at one time or the other served under these Senior Deputy Directors, who at one time or the other acted as directors of departments.

“Your Excellency may wish to note that before this unpopular promotion, two Senior Deputy Directors were promoted to Acting Directors in their respective departments. One would have expected that they would been considered for confirmation as Directors,” the petition said.

The petitioners further said, “It is therefore, very sad, demoralising, appalling and unfair by any standard, for the NCP to consider and approve the promotion of these very Junior Deputy Directors over and above their seniors without following due process on the extant Public Service Rules or Circulars by the Head of Service of the Federation (Section 020802 (d) or even the BE Staff Manual (Section 6) or any other relevant federal government circulars regarding promotion, and there is no moral justification for such decision.”

They argued that appointments for Directorship position in the public/civil service establishments should be based on certain criteria in accordance with the public/civil service rules and in line with extant public service rules and procedures of the Federal Government of Nigeria and not based on ‘whom you know’.

However, they observed that “what we have this time is a gross violation of due process (with impunity) by an Agency that claims to be a Reform Agency of the FGN and brands itself as ‘Reforming Responsibly.”

They reminded the vice president that “prior to this unpopular and obnoxious promotion exercise, Directors in the Bureau were promoted based on Seniority, Experience, Character, Merit and Geopolitical Balance.”

The petitioners, who said the flawed promotions has already started ruffling feathers in the BPE, with uneasy silence pervading, stated that ” for whatever reason, intent or guise, promoting junior officers over their seniors in the same organisation has a negative impact on the psyche of the workforce in terms of low morale and career progression.”

They therefore solicited the vice president’s intervention through the suspension of the appointments, directing the BPE management to comply with due process in line with the extant public service rule (PSR) and circulars by the head of service of the federation.

They also sought  the reinstatement of the Acting Directors or/and possibly confirm them on their jobs.

Above all, they called for a return to existing rules in the BPE, whereby directors’ promotion is based on Seniority, Competence, Merit and Geopolitical Zones represented by the most Senior Qualified Deputy Director, without contravening the Extant PSR and Civil Service Rule (CSR).

Efforts to get the reactions of BPE officials were unsuccessful.