ABUJA—The appointment of Mr Mohammed Dikwa as the acting Accountant General of the Federation has been faulted by some staff of the civil service.

According to them, the development is being viewed as inimical to seniority, experience and discipline.

According to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Vanguard, he said; subdued murmurs and simmering discontent have been trailing the process of the appointment of the successor to the immediate past Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, Mr Jonah Otunla, who left office about a fortnight ago.

“After Otunla’s exit, Mr Mohammed Dikwa was deployed to the position of the acting capacity pending the appointment of a substantive AGF. But the worry in the civil service is that Dikwa ranks No. 18 in the order of seniority of Directors of Finance and Accounts in the employment of the Civil Service of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The deployment of Dikwa by the Head of Civil Service, Mr Danladi Kifasi against the instructions of President Muhhamadu Buhari that the most senior Director be appointed to act in the position of AGF was jettisoned and this has heightened suspicions, veracity and integrity of the process.”

The source went further, “34 directors of finance and accounts across the civil service sat for the most recent qualifying examination. Based on performance in the three-stage test, the number should have been whittled down to a more manageable size to enable oral interface before recommendation for presidential approval. The template which was put in place and followed religiously under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was for the best three candidates, following tests and screening for top-level service positions, to be proposed for eventual ratification at the discretion of the President.”

Accusing Kifasi of downplaying Mr President’s instruction, the source went further “Without regards for this rule, four of the 34 candidates who sat for the AGF qualifying examination were randomly selected for post-screening in circumstances which were anything but transparent.”