The cicil service is believed to be the engine room of government. Civil servants are invariably in a better frame of mind to work when their overhead allowances and imprests are released — as they would put it — as and when due. When, therefore, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade stopped his Directors-General from spending their monthly overhead allocations, it was as if he was halting the very machinery of government.
The Military Administrator, on his part, did not see why he should release funds to civil servants when, in fact, everyone was apparently idle. Nothing was happening in this famous new state, so what did civil servants need overheads for? Every single naira and kobo in the treasury should be directed to the construction of very urgent infrastructure that would be visible to one and all. It didn’t seem right that workers should ask for overhead when they didn’t even have places to sleep.
The first thing to do was for everyone to be content with their salaries, and sacrifice the monthly overhead into achieving the imperative of building liveable homes as soon as possible. That was Olubolade’s line of thought. It so happened that the civil servants did not think so. This was a new state alright, but they were coming from Rivers State where a tradition had already been established, with the full sanction of civil service rules and regulations.
The No. 1 civil servant of the new state, Paul S. Obhuo was in a fix. How would he persuade his boss to see reason? He was under obligation to confer with the Military Administrator as often as possible. They worked so closely that a friendly cordiality began to blossom between them. Obhuo once told Oubolade pointedly that he would create problems for his successor, given the size of all these projects he was undertaking at once.
The Military Administrator did well to reckon with the opinion of the veteran civil servant, but that did not stop him from suspending the overhead and initiating the next project. Obhuo was willing to give the Milad the benefit of the doubt. He would take orders for the time being, and see how far that would go. He was hoping that his fellow civil servants would understand his plight.
At the time Bayelsa State was created, there were six Directors-General who fell into the new state. They were C.T Ikelemote, P.M. Igonikon, R. C. Accra, A.A. Pondei, and Mr Orubide. The eldest in the hierarchy, Paul Obhuo, was to become the pioneer Head of Service and Secretary to Government combined. Working directly under his wings was Bob Ozaka, who was to take over later as Head of Service.
When Olubolade took office as Military Administrator, the Directors-General were already in place, but he reshuffled the principal officers who worked with Captain Phillip Ayeni, his predecessor. And so, the Chief of Protocol, I. B. Theophilus was replaced by Joseph Akedesuo, and the Principal Secretary, O. J. Oworibo was replaced by Collins Daniel, a young student of history and Barrister at Law. Over time, even the influential, highly polished Chief Press Secretary, Fidelis Agbiki was replaced by Norman Morris.
Steeped as they were in the standing order of the civil service over the years, they all found it strange to forsake their overhead allowances. How would they purchase stationery and have a running imprest on standby for basic office requirements, if the overhead was with-held?
To stop the overhead of a ministry or parastatal was to immobilize the civil service altogether. Everyone was bound to become a culprit of this new stipulation. After about two months of silence on the subject, Olubolade decided to check the records.
Inevitably, he found fault with everyone who had flouted his order. Olubolade just did not find it funny when it came to his attention that the bloody civilians had dared to disobey his military directive. He summarily announced their removal, or demotion as the case may be, sparking off a wave of controversy in the national press.
The overriding view was that the civil service suffered under the watch of Olubolade, and the workforce was united in this conclusion. Collins Daniel, for instance, thought it was inconsiderate of Olubolade to have such little regard for the welfare of civil servants.
Daniel was enthusiastic about his job as a civil servant. He could qualify as a repository of information about the early days of Bayelsa. In later years, he grew to become king of the Abureni people of Ogbia land. When Bayelsa was created, he held office as the cool-headed Director, General Services, Governor’s Office, working directly under Paul Obhuo as the desk officer in charge of staff.
Many years later, Daniel was still emphatic that Olubolade had a mindset about governance from the time he stepped into office. His singular mission was to develop Bayelsa, even if it meant doing so at the expense of civil servants. A career civil servant of many years standing, Daniel had never heard of an overhead being frozen until he worked with Olubolade.
It was certainly odd news when the Military Administrator stipulated that Directors-General should forego their overheads in the face of lean finances. It was inconceivable that any Director-General who had the nerve to spend their overhead grants would be at risk of losing their placement. In the end, all those who defaulted were promptly replaced, except four Directors-General who were spared.
Olubolade spelt out the fact that he was in control. He repeated his call for discipline and forthright dedication to the policies of his government when he announced the appointment of thirteen Directors-General in all, spanning every local government area. They were later to go by the designation of Permanent Secretaries.
Yet, in the estimation of many civil servants, Olubolade ran a government without a human face. It was a government which didn’t quite understand the role of the civil service in governance. The very fact that the Accountant-General, Omiete Kalango, had to go to Abuja to process the monthly allocation and disburse it accordingly, was a civil service duty.
What’s more, Olubolade worked with a near canonical adherence to the engagement of direct labour at construction sites, and he did it with arrant impunity, to the detriment of contractors and the long-term vision conceived by the elders of the state. Everyone had a strong opinion to express about him, but the young administrator held his aces close to heart. He would do what he would do.
Even Inemo Daniel was always there to put in a mature word of advice, at the risk of being rebuffed. He was the elderly former Chief Press Secretary to Dr Peter Odili in his days as Deputy Governor to Chief Ada George, one time Governor of the old Rivers State. A noble son of Nembe, Inemo Daniel had relocated to Bayelsa among the early set of civil servants. He joined Olubolade on his hectic tour around the eight local government areas.
The stress overwhelmed the old man and he collapsed along the way, apparently on account of a previous accident he had suffered in the days when, fresh from America, he took his place in the press corps at Brick House, Port Harcourt. He had to take a worthwhile rest, while Stanley Max Egba was appointed to act in his place. Fidelis Agbiki was to occupy the office of Chief Press Secretary in a substantive capacity afterward, only to hand over to Norman Morris later.
In those early days of Bayelsa, the human element was tested for endurance under Olubolade’s government. It was a government driven by projects, with little regard for the immediate welfare of civil servants. Every office work came under distress simply because there was no overhead to purchase essentials. There was no room for allowances or incentives of any kind, to start with. It was a government that called for personal sacrifice.
The only saving grace was that Olubolade summoned the presence of mind to have the first town hall meeting with workers, and everyone was free to speak their minds without intimidation. One civil servant raised his hand. Before he asked his question, he called out his long first name, a name so long and turbulent that it fascinated Olubolade, bringing some comic relief to the meeting.
The fellow identified himself as a noble son of Amassoma from the Amgbare family. He asked to know when the government would be kind enough to consider paying a relocation allowance to civil servants. It was a pertinent question that got to the heart of Olubolade. He could identify with the fact that workers were sleeping in their offices, and directors shared tables within common spaces under one small roof.
He resolved even more to build office spaces for civil servants, and went on to the next phase of the estate projects for junior and senior civil servants. Even more surely, he built the first secretariat complex for civil servants, fully furnished and functional, providing office space for the Governor’s Office, Establishment & Records, the Ministry of Information, as well as the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
When Olubolade made his next set of appointments, the navy captain remembered Amgbare, the man with the long first name, and put him in charge as the first Director of Sports in Bayelsa State. A boxer worthy of his gloves, Amgbare was to oversee the sports complex in totality, and discover new talents that would make Baylesa proud in the days to come.
