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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the government’s dwindling fortunes has increased his interest in the reforms of the nation’s federal civil service.
This is even as Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan disclosed that 6,000 workers without employment letters have been uncovered at the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Buhari who was represented by the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mohammed Bello, said this at the inauguration of Cultural Change Video and Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP) 25 Documents and Award Ceremony in Abuja.
The event was organised by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), as part of activities marking the 2022 Civil Service Week, with the theme – Performance Management System (PMS): Impact on Productivity’
The President said: “I have had a rare privilege of working with the Nigerian Civil Service, at the closest and innermost quarters for the large part of my sojourn in Public Service and has witnessed a formidable and strong public service, which we began to see gradually, loose its relevance in the country.”
According to him, this gradual decline propelled him to provide all the necessary support to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF) in under-taking innovative and far-reaching reforms that is gradually showing signs of bearing the desired fruits.
Buhari said that government would be delighted to have a civil service desirous of improving its ability to drive national development through the recommendation of appropriate policies that would enhance the implementation of government programmes.
He commended the present crop of civil servants who have fared well in driving the implementation of government programmes as the engine room of government activities.
He said, “In spite of the difficult economic situation the country is passing through at the moment, you have continued to support the government in our efforts to bring dividends of democracy to the populace.”
He assured that his administration will spare no effort aimed at improving the competencies of officers in the service through training and re-training of staff by the system.
He informed the audience that he has set up a Presidential committee on salaries to harmonize salaries service-wide, as part of measures at improving the value proposition of the civil service.
Buhari said, “Accordingly, it is my hope that the outcome of the committee’s work will provide the impetus for an upward review of the salaries of deserving civil servants, having recently increased the Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) of all civil servants as a starting point.
“As this process is still going on, I want to encourage you to be patient with us as you continue to give your best services to enable us sustain the good working relationship between the political office holders and the civil servants. With the sustained understanding and cooperation, we will together contribute our quota to the development of our country, and our efforts will not be in vain.”
Earlier, Yemi-Esan, said the commemoration of civil service had provided a platform for Africa nations and Nigeria in particular to recognise the value and virtue of service to the community.
She said the celebration is also aims to highlight and share best practices to enable the service reposition itself for enhanced performance.
Meanwhile, at a media parley with journalists the head of service said 5,000 of the ghost workers uncovered were at the Ministry of Information, while the Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Labour was handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) after 1,000 fake workers were uncovered at the ministry.
According to her, the exercise has brought down the payroll to 74,000 workers from over 100,000 workers that were earning salaries illegally.
She said many of the fake workers were detected from the payroll through the human components of the IPPIS, which was started few years ago and designed to verify credentials such as a person’s letters of appointment, academic certificates, age declaration at entry and birth certificate.
‘You will be surprised at the number that did not have certificates and have been earning salaries for 10 – 20 years,” she said.
She added that the Federal Civil Service Commission, two months ago, while verifying letters of employment from 2010 to date, sent her 3,000 names of fake workers to be suspended from IPPIS for possessing bogus employment letters.
Also corroborating her revelation, the Permanent Secretary General Services Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr Maurice Mbaeri. He said five fake workers were laid off at the OSGF on Tuesday after a screening exercise discovered they were neither validly employed through the Civil Service Commission nor could their files be found at the commission after further investigation.
