Civil Service Commission, not Amosun, sacked civil servants – Ogun

The Ogun State Government has denied that Governor Ibikunle Amosun sacked six state civil servants over the controversial English paper examination question in the last state’s unified promotion examination.

Instead, it said the state Civil Service Commission sacked the affected staff, as the statutory body empowered to do so.

This was contained in a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, in Abeokuta on Tuesday, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent.

This was coming on the heels of an alleged petition by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project to the UN Rapporteurs on the sacking of five officials of the state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and an English Language teacher.

SERAP had, on Monday, urged the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education to ask the Ogun State Government to rescind its decision as regards the sacking of the civil servants.

The government had accused SERAP of jumping the gun and crying more than the bereaved.

It wondered if SERAP had studied the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in relation to disciplinary control over civil servants.

The statement made available to our correspondent read in part, “Had SERAP looked before leaping, it would have realised that by virtue of Paragraph 2, Part II, Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, could not have played any role in the disciplinary measures against the workers.

“Had SERAP examined and understood the facts that led to the decisions of the Ogun State Civil Service Commission, it would have appreciated they were not even remotely connected with the constitutionally-guaranteed rights to freedom of thought, conscience and expression or academic freedom, which formed the kernel of its petition to the UN Special Rapporteurs.”

Quoting other aspects of the Constitution, the SSG further argued, “The Commission shall have power, without prejudice to the powers vested in the Governor and the State Judicial Service Commission to,

(a) appoint persons to offices in the state civil service; and

(b) dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding such offices.

“The Commission shall not exercise any of its powers under sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph in respect of such offices of heads of divisions of ministries or of departments of the government of the state as may from time to time be designated by an order made by the governor except after consultation with the Head of the Civil Service of the State.

“In the light of the foregoing, government advised the civil society group  to approach the Ogun State Civil Service Commission for relevant information in order to be well guided.”