Some industry sources who pleaded for anonymity said her staying in office after the expiration of the second tenure is a great misconduct and against the new public service rule that stated that no director or head of government parastatal will stay in office more than 8 years or after serving two terms.
There is tension at the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board (PEF) over the continuing stay in office by the Executive Secretary, Mrs Adefunke Sharon Kasali despite ending her Second Term penultimate week, Daily Trust learn.
According to document available to Daily Trust, Mrs Kasali assumed duty on April 16, 2007 as the secretary of the board and her tenure was renewed for the second term in office in 2011. She was expected to retire at the end of her second term in office according to the new public service rule.
Some industry sources who pleaded for anonymity said her staying in office after the expiration of the second tenure is a great misconduct and against the new public service rule that stated that no director or head of government parastatal will stay in office more than 8 years or after serving two terms.
The sources said if going by the rule, she even supposed to proceeded on three months pre retirement leave since December 2014 which she ignored.
Report said there are serious agitations by the staff of the agency and the Petroleum Marketers as well as tankers owners who are part of the stakeholders over the tenure extension by Mrs Kasali.
Daily Trust learnt that since the issue came to the public knowledge the security at the PEF headquarters in Abuja has been beep up to avoid any protest.
Some staff said her staying in office has no justification because already the eight-year tenure system has commenced since 2012 where about two general managers were affected namely; Mr Harold Ubabukoh who retired in 2012 and Alhaji Munir Baba who resigned in 2013 and both of them proceeded on terminal leave, three months before their tenure ends.
The sources said now that is her turn to retire she refused, claiming that her office is exempted on the new eight-year tenure system.
However, a letter from Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Ref: HCSF/CSO/HMR/POL.1428/5 titled: RE: Request for the Tenure of Office of the Chief Executive of Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF)dated 9th June, 2014 signed by Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, Director, Employee Mobility copy made available to Daily Trust said the 8-year tenure of office, in the service applies to all officers on SGL. 17 in ministries, Departments, Agencies and Parastatals of government.
PEF is the agency in-charge of freight payment for petrol product in order to bridge the price gap between the coastal areas where the product is evacuated to the hinterland and other hard-reach areas for every citizen to pay a uniform price.
The agency under her embarked on several reforms aims at sanitising the system, but many stakeholders have mixed feeling on the benefits or otherwise of the reforms. One of the controversial reforms is the introduction of the Project Aquila to check fake claims by transporters but the transporters claimed since the introduction of the system the delay in payment and other related problems.
In a letter by the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) addressed to her, dated 12th December, 2014 and signed by the National President, Alhaji Kassim Ibrahim Bataiya titled: Ever Increasing Problems Generated by the Implementation of Project Aquila and Related Issues, read: “In our previous letters we have highlighted problems ranging from unnecessary delays and non-payment of bridging and transport claims to total insensitivity to the plight of our members in the implementation of project Aquila. Your continued insistence on pursuing your program alone, couple with your action towards the feeling of our members which led to the issuance of two weeks ultimatum issued in September 2013 and the second in June 2014.”