Didi Esther Walson-Jack’s 34-year public service career was marked by resilience, competence and difficult assignments, with former President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-Bayelsa Governor Seriake Dickson playing key roles at critical points in her journey to becoming Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack

For Didi Esther Walson-Jack, the journey to the top of Nigeria’s civil service was not a straight road.

It was a career shaped by difficult assignments, political pressures, professional setbacks and changing responsibilities. But it was also a journey marked by competence, resilience and the support of people who recognised her ability at critical moments.

As Walson-Jack retires after 34 years in public service, revelations by former Bayelsa State Governor and Senator Seriake Dickson have provided a rare glimpse into some of the turning points that shaped her rise to become Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

At the centre of that story is an unusual professional relationship involving Dickson and former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Their connection, according to Dickson, was not simply about political patronage. It was built around Walson-Jack’s competence, the confidence she earned in the course of her work and interventions made when political circumstances threatened to derail her career.

The story also comes against the backdrop of a wider debate about merit and competence in public appointments.

At the ceremony marking Walson-Jack’s retirement and the presentation of her books, I Planted and Beyond the Mandate, Jonathan himself used her career to argue that Nigeria must put the right people in the right positions.

“If integrity and merit is not considered, especially leadership of a country, if you compromise merit, then you cannot go anywhere. You must use the right people for the right things,” Jonathan said.

administrative side of running a government institution.

He said Walson-Jack became an important guide during that period.

“It was D.D. Walson-Jack who had the duty of putting me through on how to give administrative leadership to the ministry as Attorney-General,” Dickson recalled.

The relationship would later become significant in both their careers.

Dickson said he and Walson-Jack worked on reforms in the justice sector, including the recruitment of young lawyers and state counsel. The administration, he recalled, approved the employment of 62 lawyers.

They also worked on changes to the handling of criminal cases in the state, including efforts to restrict police prosecution of cases in Magistrate Courts.

But beyond those official assignments, Walson-Jack’s meticulous approach to public administration would later prove valuable to Dickson himself.

The document that came to Dickson’s rescue

After leaving government to pursue a political career, Dickson said he faced allegations connected to a government-approved library project.

The allegations became serious enough to trigger proceedings involving the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and a judicial commission.

Dickson challenged the allegations and sought the official records surrounding the project.

Then came the handover note prepared by Walson-Jack.

According to Dickson, the document helped establish the facts surrounding the project and ultimately became crucial to resolving the matter.

“So we requested for her handover note, and that was what saved me,” he said.

The episode says something important about the less visible side of civil service.

Political office holders come and go, but records remain. Decisions documented properly can outlive the people who made them.

For Walson-Jack, attention to detail was not merely an administrative habit. It became part of her professional identity.

When politics threatened her career, the relationship between Dickson and Walson-Jack took another turn when she encountered political pressure in the Bayelsa State Civil Service.

Dickson said he became concerned that the political situation could damage her career.

Rather than allow her to remain trapped in the situation, he approached Jonathan, who was then Vice President.

His request was for Walson-Jack to be nominated for a programme at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.

Dickson was clear about his intention.

“What I was doing was to pull her out of the political toxicity that was threatening to destroy her,” he said.

Jonathan, according to Dickson, asked who he wanted to nominate.

He mentioned Walson-Jack.

Jonathan then asked whether she wanted to go.

After Dickson confirmed that she did, Jonathan approved the request and asked for her details.

It was one of several moments when political intervention intersected with a professional career.

The NIPSS opportunity was not the end of the story.

Dickson said another challenge later emerged around Walson-Jack’s position in the Bayelsa State Civil Service.

Again, he approached Jonathan.

This time, he sought her transfer to the Federal Civil Service.

According to Dickson, Jonathan again asked whether Walson-Jack wanted the move before directing that the necessary documents be submitted.

The transfer eventually opened a new chapter for Walson-Jack.

It moved her from the state civil service into the federal system and placed her on the path that would eventually lead to the country’s highest administrative position.

It is this part of her story that makes the Jonathan-Dickson connection particularly significant.

Dickson had recognised her ability. Jonathan, according to his account, provided approval at moments when new opportunities required high-level intervention.

But opportunity alone does not explain where Walson-Jack eventually arrived.

She still had to perform.

Dickson wanted her back

Years later, when Dickson became governor of Bayelsa State, the relationship took another turn.

The former governor said he approached Jonathan again, this time seeking Walson-Jack’s return to the state government.

His plan was to appoint her Chief of Staff.

Dickson recalled the exchange simply:

“I said, ‘Sir, return Didi to me.’ He said, ‘What do you want to use that for?’ I said, ‘Chief of Staff.’ He said, ‘Bring the letter.’ Approved.

For Dickson, the decision reflected the confidence he had developed in Walson-Jack over the years.

He described her as “a wonderful, brilliant and outstanding ambassador” of Bayelsa State.

Yet reducing Walson-Jack’s rise to political connections would miss the larger story.

Her career, as presented at the ceremony, was also one of surviving difficult environments and repeatedly proving herself.

Governor Douye Diri captured this dimension when he said the hardships Walson-Jack experienced in the Niger Delta civil service and later in the Federal Civil Service did not destroy her.

“They did not actually break her. It actually formed her,” Diri said.

That distinction is important.

The opportunities may have come through people who believed in her, but the credibility to occupy increasingly important positions had to be built over time.

Jonathan’s own remarks reinforced that point.

He praised President Bola Tinubu for appointing Walson-Jack as Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, arguing that the position required merit and competence.

“There’s a lot of merit required. So we are fortunate that you’re able to get there. So we have to appreciate the President,” Jonathan said.

Walson-Jack’s journey eventually reached its highest point under President Bola Tinubu, who appointed her Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

At the retirement ceremony, Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Toochukwu Udeh, described her as a reform-minded public servant.

The President said the modern civil service must be professional, competent, ethical, innovative and focused on delivering results.

He also highlighted Walson-Jack’s contribution to digital transformation, payroll and personnel management reforms and efforts to strengthen institutional accountability.

For Tinubu, her story was ultimately about legacy.

“Titles come and go. What remains is the impact we make, the people we develop, the institutions we strengthen, and the values we leave behind,” he said.

More than a political connection, the revelations by Dickson provide an important layer to Walson-Jack’s career, but they do not tell the whole story.

Public administration expert Joe Abba, who reviewed her books, pointed to another quality that helped define her journey: the ability to learn from failure.

He recalled an early professional setback in which one of her submissions was rejected.

Rather than blaming others, Walson-Jack examined the quality of her work and considered what she needed to improve.

That culture of self-reflection and continuous learning, Abba said, remained visible throughout her career.

He also highlighted her work in digital transformation, staff welfare, housing, labour relations, disability inclusion and retirement preparation.

His argument was that good institutions depend not only on policies but also on the people who operate them and the conditions under which they work.

Diri offered perhaps the simplest description of Walson-Jack’s journey.

“You planted in Rivers State, you planted in Bayelsa State, you watered in Abuja, and God gave the increase,” he said.

It is an appropriate metaphor for a career that began in the state civil service and eventually reached the top of the Federal Civil Service.

The Jonathan-Dickson connection was part of that journey. Dickson recognised her abilities, sought opportunities for her and intervened when political circumstances became difficult. Jonathan, according to Dickson’s account, approved those requests at critical moments.

But Walson-Jack still had to build the professional record that justified the confidence placed in her.

Her career therefore presents a more complex picture of how people rise in public service: opportunity may open the door, but competence, resilience and performance determine how long one remains in the room.

After 34 years, Walson-Jack leaves the Federal Civil Service with former and serving leaders describing her career in terms of merit, integrity, institutional reform and perseverance.

Her story is not simply about reaching the top.

It is about surviving the pressures along the way, building relationships without losing professional identity, and turning opportunities into a record of service.

And perhaps that is the most revealing part of the Walson-Jack story: she did not merely beat the odds. She kept planting until the results became impossible to ignore