Besides the career fulfillment that comes with the position, permanent secretaries enjoy even in retirement, socio-political and economic influences. The praxis of a Permanent Secretary can be analyzed in terms of his/her activities as they bear on government policy directions.
A Permanent Secretary’s worth can be gauged by the contributions they make to a variety of departmental policy initiatives and the conduct of government business. This implies that in addition to their absolute loyalty and neutrality which demand that the expression of their personal political views or ideological prejudices do not constitute so strong a commitment to one political party as to inhibit loyal and effective service to governments of divergent political persuasions within the policy environment of their operations.
A Permanent Secretary should and must be proactive, dynamic and broad-minded. Persons to be elevated to the status of a permanent secretary should display impeccable character and sound intellect with a deep understanding of the practice of public bureaucracy.
Nonetheless, the degree of attention a permanent secretary receives derives from the critical role assigned to his or her ministry and how effectively he functions to foster the achievement of those mandates, including his empathy for staff of the organization.
Until his posting to FCTA, Mr. Olusade was Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, where he recorded tremendous achievements and at a time Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Sports and Youths Development, where he also recorded some sterling feats in the country’s football administration. Some of these led to both national and international laurels.
He was born on 18th March, 1964 and hails from Akoko North East Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Mr. Olusade started his working career in 1988 with the then Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Kaduna State, where he did his one year mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). In a bid to broaden his service to the nation, having contributed his bit to the development of Kaduna State, in 1998, Mr. Olusade transferred his services to the mainstream Civil Service where he had gradual and steady rise until his appointment in August 2017 as Federal Permanent Secretary by President Muhammadu Buhari as a result of his dint of hard work, dedication and loyalty.
Mr. Olusade holds a Bachelor degree in Agric-Economics from Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Benin.
Mr. Olusade, assumed office as permanent secretary, Federal Capital Territory on 2nd September,2020. In less than two years in office he has carved a niche for himself as an Astute administrator who has demystified government bureaucracies and formulated people friendly policies for effective service delivery.
At the Federal Capital Territory Administration Judging by the number of policies which Mr. Olusade has advocated in bringing about a stable policy environment; or those for which he very easily connects with the vision of his principals to advance the practicability and general acceptance of their policy initiatives, it can arguably be said that he is a policy technician highly practiced in government.
Mr. Olusade, a man of immeasurable standard, is successfully deploying his ability, skill and experience in managing policy programmes in support of the minister in delivering on the development programmes articulated by the government of the day.
As Permanent Secretary at the FCTA, Mr Olusade has carried out avalanche of positive policies that have impacted positively on not only the bureaucratic structures of the FCT Administration but also on the residents of FCT. They include but not limited to the following;
i. Boosting of staff capacity and competencies of over 6,000 staff trained so far on various areas, such as: ICT, Writing of Council Memo, Official Communications in Public Service, Human Resource Management, etc.
ii. Payment of N2.9B staff promotion arears.
iii. Promotion of 18,929 staff to various cadres.
iv. Consistency in the payment of monthly Salary.
v. Upgrading of Department of Economic, Planning, Research and Statistics to a full-fledged Secretariat.
vi. Increment of the Agric Secretariat from 3 Departments to 9 Departments.
vii. Making Invaluable contributions that have improved the lives of FCT residents.
viii. Assisting the Honourable Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello and Honourable Minister of State, FCT, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu in running the affairs of the Territory.
ix. Inauguration of Ease of Doing Business.
x. Introduction of Annual Staff Recognition Award
xi. Revitalization of Servicom Unit of FCTA.
xii. Introduction of Citizenship Engagement Platform through Department of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement.
xiii. Set up Committee on Revitalization of over 300 Non-Functional Boreholes and Public Toilets System.
xiv. Drastic reduction in cost of Governance.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration has a very tall mandate which among others include; providing an effective and efficient administrative framework, provision of critical infrastructure, provision of services to FCT residents, Wealth Creation and Poverty reduction and provision of safe and secure environment.
These are laudable targets for a country that truly aspires for greatness but achieving them requires the exertion of a technocrat par excellence in the likes of Mr Olusade who has consistently shown remarkable zeal in implementing pragmatically political will through workable policy outcomes.
