Lawal swears in five Zamfara permanent secretaries, warns on public funds

Zamfara State has five new permanent secretaries. Governor Dauda Lawal swore them in on Thursday at the Grand Chamber of the Government House in Gusau, the state capital.

The Chief Judge of Zamfara, Justice Kulu Aliyu, administered the oath of office. The new officers are Ahmad S. Zamfara, Nasiru Halilu Anka, Mu’azu Jibril Guraguri, Adamu Abdullahi Kanoma and Sani Muhammad Shinkafi.

Permanent secretaries are the top civil servants in a ministry or agency. They run the day-to-day administration, advise on policy and are expected to keep spending within the rules. For ordinary residents, that makes them key to whether money for schools, clinics, roads and salaries is spent as planned.

What Lawal told the appointees

According to a statement from the governor’s spokesperson, Sulaiman Bala Idris, Lawal asked the new permanent secretaries to keep to the public service rules and financial regulations. He said they should maintain discipline and make sure public funds are used for their intended purposes.

Lawal said the appointments recognise the officers’ experience and their readiness for bigger responsibility. He noted that the decisions and conduct of senior administrators affect how government performs and how residents fare.

“Becoming permanent secretaries is more than personal advancement,” the governor said.

He also asked them to plan properly, supervise their staff and check results regularly, rather than leaving policies to run without review.

On working with commissioners and other political officeholders, Lawal drew a line between the two roles. Political leaders set policy, he said, while career civil servants supply the knowledge and capacity to carry it out. He said the two sides work best when they respect each other.

The governor said his administration is pushing reforms to improve public administration and the delivery of essential services, with the civil service as the engine that turns decisions into results.

The ceremony was reported by Daily Trust, Vanguard and Daily Post, which carried the same list of appointees and the same account of the oath.

What happens next

The five officers take up their posts in the state civil service, where they will head ministries or departments and answer for how budgets are spent. Zamfara residents will watch whether the promised discipline and supervision show up in services they use.