Head of service, Kifasi, ‘set’ for terminal leave

Danladi Kifasi, head of service of the federation, is proceeding on terminal leave “very soon” and is already preparing to hand over, TheCable has been told.

According to a source very close to Kifasi, the head of service has not received official correspondence from the presidency to that effect, but he is “already anticipating the change” and he knows that President Muhammadu Buhari is “bringing someone else soon”.

Kifasi, being a native of Taraba state, is from the same northeast zone as the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, who is from Adamawa state. It is therefore believed that the president will name a successor from the south which means

Kifasi, who had served as permanent secretary in several ministries, including federal ministry of finance, is still the head of Nigeria’s civil service as of the time of filing this report, contrary to reports that he has been sacked.

Kifasi was appointed by former president, Goodluck Jonathan, in August 2014. Until then, he was a permanent secretary in the ministry of petroleum resources.

He succeeded Mallam Bukar Goni, who retired after occupying the office for over a year. Goni took over the office in a similar manner on March 25, 2013, as his predecessor, Alhaji Isa Sali also retired.

Kifasi previously served as permanent secretary in the ministry of aviation and the ministry of youth development.

From 2001 to 2007, he was a director in the office of the accountant-general of the federation and at various times headed the finance and accounts department and the revenue division.

Between 1990 and 2001, he held middle management positions (assistant and deputy director level) at the office of head of civil service of the federation, the federal ministry of finance and the federal ministry of agriculture, where he served as the financial controller of the World Bank funded national livestock projects division.

Prior to his civil service career, he had worked with the Jos International Brewery (JIB) group, where he was deputy manager (accounts), and later chief accountant of BARC Farms Ltd., a JIB subsidiary.

Born on January 1, 1956, Kifasi was a member of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a non-executive director of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), and an alternate governor of Islamic Development Bank.

An indigene of Taraba State, a chartered accountant and lawyer, he was one of three permanent secretaries from the north-east geo-political zone shortlisted to succeed Bukar Aji, after his retirement.