Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, GCON, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the 2025 Council of Retired Federal Permanent Secretaries (CORFEPS) End-of-Year Dinner and Honours Award on Thursday, December 4, in Abuja.
Akume, appointed SGF by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in June 2023, is a former Governor of Benue State and one-time Minister of Special Duties.
The event, billed for the State House Conference Centre, Aso Villa, will run from 6 pm to 10 pm. This year’s dinner is themed “Harnessing CORFEPS as a Wealth of Knowledge for Nation Building.”
In a statement, the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Dr. Adaoha C. Okwuosa, announced that the 2025 edition marks the introduction of the CORFEPS Honours Award, beginning with the recognition of the Fathers and Founders of the Council, acknowledging their contributions to building the Federal Public Service.
Some of the distinguished honourees include Allison A. Ayida, Izoma Philip Asiodu, Francesca Emanuel, Alh. I. M. Damcida, Asiwaju Tunji Olutola, and Alhaja Latifat Okunnu.
The dinner will be chaired by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dame Esther Didi Walson-Jack, while the host will be eminent bureaucrat and former SGF, M. Yayale Ahmed, CFR. Also expected is Engr. Ebele O. Okeke, CFR, Nigeria’s first female Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
Guests will include members of the Federal Executive Council, heads of government agencies, captains of industry, retired and serving permanent secretaries, directors, and development partners.
Founded in 2004 and incorporated in 2012, CORFEPS serves as a body of retired top-tier civil servants dedicated to contributing expert knowledge to national development. Membership is exclusive to former Federal Permanent Secretaries and former Heads of the Civil Service of the Federation.
According to Okwuosa, CORFEPS remains a non-profit, non-religious, and non-political council focused on: providing a platform for national policy dialogue; promoting values, performance standards, and morality in public service; offering objective assessments of national performance; safeguarding the non-partisan role of the Civil Service; and fostering collaboration and welfare among retired federal permanent secretaries.
The Council executes its mandate through standing and ad-hoc committees, including Research, Advisory, and Members’ Welfare which report to monthly Ordinary General Meetings. It also produces annual seminars, colloquiums, memoranda, and advisories for the Executive and Legislature.
Under the Tinubu administration, CORFEPS has submitted several key policy documents, including memoranda on strengthening the Renewed Hope Agenda (March 2024), enhancing food security (August 2024), and advisories on possible US deportations and their implications for Nigeria (December 2024). It has also provided inputs to the National Assembly on improving Nigeria’s tax bills (January 2025) and constitutional amendments (July 2025).
Traditionally, the CORFEPS Year-End Dinner serves as a relaxed social forum for interaction among CORFEPS members and stakeholders from the public sector, private sector, and diplomatic community.
2025 event, enhanced by the inauguration of the new Honours Award, is set to be one of the Council’s most significant gatherings yet.
