Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack was born August 27, 1966 in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. She holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987. She is a Legislative Drafter and a Certified Conflict Resolution and Peace Building practitioner.
Her illustrious Public Service career began as a State Counsel at the Rivers State Ministry of Justice ion 1992. At the creation of Bayelsa State in 1996, she transferred her services to the new State where she established and headed both the Legal Drafting Department of the Ministry of Justice as well as the Legal Department of the House of Assembly, making her invaluable to both the Executive and Legislative arms of the government.
She went on to become the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice; Deputy Chief of Staff, Pioneer Commissioner of the Ministry of Science & Technology and Manpower Development and later Chief of Staff to the Governor, all in Bayelsa State.
In 2009, Mrs Walson-Jack, transferred her services to the Federal Civil Service as an Assistant Director, in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs steadily rising to become a Federal Permanent Secretary in 2017. As Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office in the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, she introduced Rewards and Recognition System Initiatives, and reinvigorated the Federal Integrated Staff Housing Programme (FISH). As Chair of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, her efforts in managing labour relations significantly contributed to industrial harmony in the Service.
In 2018, she was appointed member of the Tripartite and Technical Committees on the National Minimum Wage. She was instrumental to the initiation and development of: the Civil Service Exit Management Programme (Pre-Retirement Training, Offboarding, and Post-Retirement Service Schemes); and Framework for the implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) among others.
Mrs Walson-Jack also served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Niger Delta Affairs, Power, Water Resources and Sanitation, and the Special Duties Office in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. She was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education before her appointment as the Head of Service.
Mrs Walson-Jack has over time, rendered sound, crucial institutional support to the Public Service.
She is a recipient of the National Honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) and an alumna of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.
The happily married mother of two is the author of the best-selling novel, “Roses in the Thorns.”
