A HOUSE of Representatives committee on Thursday, March 30, ordered Jamila Shu’ara, a former permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, to refund salaries and entitlements she received for one year over illegal extension of service.

The committee also directed Winifred Oyo-Ita, head of service of the federation, HoS, to invoke relevant Civil Service rules to recover, within four weeks, all the emoluments Shu’ara collected within the period of the extension.

Shu’ara was supposed to retire from service on February 17, 2016, after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60, but she had her tenure extended to February 2017.

After the expiration of the extension, her tenure was said to be extended further for one year through a letter by Abba Kyari, chief of staff to the president.

In the letter addressed to the HoS, the COS said Shu’ara’s second extension of service was under a special dispensation that should not be cited as a policy. But members of the committee faulted the content of the letter, saying the chief of staff to the president could not cite the Constitution on one hand only to turn and say it should not be cited as a policy.

—  Apr 10, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT

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