President Tinubu swears in career civil servant Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan as Nigeria's new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, tasking him with building a more merit-driven, innovative public service.
Abuja — August 28, 2026
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday administered the oath of office to Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan as the new Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), formally completing a leadership transition first announced on August 19 and effective from August 27.
The brief ceremony at the State House, Abuja, was attended by outgoing HoCSF Didi Esther Walson-Jack and her husband, Hon. Nimi Walson-Jack; Enitan's wife, Mrs. Olawunmi Ololade Enitan; Permanent Secretary of the State House, Mr. Temitope Fashedemi; and other senior government officials.
Later in the day, Walson-Jack and Enitan signed the formal handover documents, with Walson-Jack presenting her handover note covering her tenure from August 14, 2024, to August 27, 2026, before the two shook hands to mark the transfer of office.
Walson-Jack retired after reaching the mandatory civil service retirement age of 60. Enitan, an indigene of Osun State born on December 12, 1966, was the most senior Permanent Secretary in the Federal Civil Service at the time of his appointment.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Lagos and a Master's in Public Policy Analysis from Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
He joined the Federal Civil Service in 1998 as a Senior Operations Officer at the now-discontinued Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP), and went on to serve at the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs before a posting to the Office of the Vice-President at the State House, where he rose from Chief Administrative Officer to Director between 2010 and 2018.
He was appointed Permanent Secretary in December 2018 and posted to the Federal Civil Service Commission, before subsequent postings to the Ministries of Environment, Police Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, and finally Education, where he served as Permanent Secretary for seven years and seven months before his latest elevation.
In announcing the appointment on August 19, Tinubu described Enitan as an experienced public servant with considerable institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of how the Federal Civil Service functions.
At the swearing-in, the President congratulated Enitan and charged him to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, accountability, and efficiency, while building on the reforms initiated under Walson-Jack's leadership.
Tinubu further tasked the new Head of Service with making the civil service more merit-driven, innovative, and responsive to the needs and aspirations of Nigerians, a mandate that places Enitan at the centre of the administration's ongoing public service reform agenda as he takes over Nigeria's top bureaucratic post.
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