Head of the Civil Service Stanley Oliver retires today after more than 20 years of public service.

His responsibilities will transfer to Cabinet Secretary John Drinkwater.

Mr. Oliver said yesterday: "I would like to say thank you to all of the wonderful people whom I have had the privilege to work with over my many years in government service.

"I can truly say that it has been both enlightening and enriching, and I leave with no regrets.

"I have always done my best to provide good service wherever and whenever I could and I am grateful for having had the opportunity to make the contribution.

"As I approach my 60th birthday on September 5, I have decided retirement is the next step, and it is time for one of the younger, brighter, competent officers in the service to continue to make effective changes of the country."

Premier Alex Scott last night paid tribute to Mr. Oliver, the man who was his first Permanent Secretary at Works and Engineering in 1998 when the Progressive Labour Party won power.

"He was my first permanent secretary and I credit him with putting me on a fast track to becoming a relatively effective and efficient administrator," said Mr. Scott. "He showed me the ropes in a short period of time. He was not afraid to take difficult decisions and he was firm but fair with a wealth of experience across the civil service.

"As a friend and as a colleague, I will miss him and I think we are going to lose a great resource on his retirement.

"But his family and his wife deserve more time with him. He loves golf, and he is very good at it, although we don't tell him it, and he will have a lot more time for it.

"For the new government in 1998, and especially when he moved to the Cabinet Office, he was the administrative thread that allowed the former Premier to make very effective changes to the civil service that have put me in good stead as the Premier who has succeeded now.

"He is a very good man and we are going to miss him, but he has earned his years of retirement."

After taking a degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College in 1970 and a masters degree in public administration from the University of Hartford, Mr. Oliver joined the civil service as Highway Engineer for the Department of Works.

Four years later he was appointed director designate of the Transport Control Department, where he remained for five years. He left the civil service in the 1970s and spent 11 years as the general manager of the IBM computer agency in Bermuda.

He returned to the civil service in 1990 as Permanent Secretary at Works and Engineering, moving to Head of the Civil Service in 1999.