The challenge of every woman is leading at the front row while others follow, but for Dr Muheeba Dankaka, the Executive Chairman, Federal Character Commission FCC, it was an opportunity to transform the moribund government agency, that was only known by mere nomenclature, but refused to live up to the expectations of Nigerians .
Appointed at the thick of the global pandemic in 2020 that ravaged the continent with Nigeria not in exception, Dankaka armed with her wealth of experience resisted both the fifth columnist, Nigerian factor including the prevalent pandemic of COVID-19 that had dealt devastating effects to particularly the public service, with the private sector not left out and embarked on wholistic reforms.
Her desire to tackle this triple scourge through concerted efforts and administrative wisdom, she set the ball rolling by carrying out massive reorganisation in the FCC with a view to delivering on the mandate of the commission.
She expressed reservation on the activities of the commission that was not leaving up to expectations on assumption of duty, particularly it’s statutory functions and mandates usurped by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government that was supposed to take a guide from the Federal Character Commission FCC, as the reverse was the case.
Aside employment, absorption and recruitment into the federal government jobs that was not conforming with the Federal Character procedures, she also stood firm against appointment’s without due consideration to national spread and geopolitical considerations, in line with the Federal Character Commission template.
Without delay , set up a machinery in motion that had reversed the trend in line with the lay down procedures that had returned sanity, transparency, due process, diligence and honesty to public service, recruitment and absorption.
The Commission was obliged to scrutinize and endorse recruitments and replacements that are glaringly new in nature to avoid resistance from any part of the country, in accordance with the Federal Character and lay down procedures.
During and post COVID-19, she tackled staff development, welfare and capacity building without recourse to the emergency situations during the lockdown and the attendant economic recession, by ensuring seamless training and retraining from the top to bottom for service delivery.
The top level consisting of commissioners from the six geopolitical zones were routinely trained both locally and internationally to deliver on the mandates of the organization, which had precluded truancy, absenteeism, lackadaisical attitude and low productivity bedeviling the top echelon of the commission.
With series of reforms , benefits and upward review of training programs and allowances capable of exposing the management cadre and staffs to more areas of development, had been the bane of the success story of Dr Muheeba Dankaka in her three years stint in the Federal Character Commission FCC.
The business unusual posture and consternation of her administration had been the major resistance and aggressive affront from the fifth columnist and external detractors, as the positive effects had contributed to the success story in the new FCC.
Not resting on her oars and the successes already garnered in the last three years, the ongoing direct inspection of activities of Ministries, Departments and Agencies to ascertain the level of compliance to it’s mandates, which had been resisted by nay sayers as the basis of it’s campaigns of calumny had emboldened the programs of the current leadership in the commission.
Three years down the line, the transformation agenda of the Dr Muheeba Dankaka had debuted in all areas of national development, as efforts had been redoubled to consolidate on the achievements going forward.
Yusuf , a Public Affairs Analyst, writes from Abuja and can be reached on [email protected].
