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…Says only 140 out of 290 deputy directors passed promotion exams
Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has assured Nigerian civil servants that it is working assiduously to review the current minimum wage of N18,000 in the face of present realities.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, who is one of the 30-member tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee for the negotiation of a new national minimum wage for the country, appointed last November, said a strong position paper was being fine-tuned for presentation to President Muhammadu Buhari.
She made this known yesterday in Abuja at the Second Permanent Secretaries’ Quarterly Breakfast meeting with the organised labour where she also pledged the commitment of the Federal Government to the welfare and provision of conducive working environment for workers.
Oyo-Ita, also disclosed that only 140 out of over 290 deputy directors who sat for promotion examinations recently in the Federal Civil Service were succesful.
She told the labour union leaders present at the meeting that the lingering issue of promotions for the 2014 batch of Directors in the administration cadre has also been resolved.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation added that the lifting of the court injunction also led to the conduct of examinations for 2015-2017 batch of Directors in the same cadre.
“Over 290 deputy directors sat for the exams, out of which about 140 were successful. With this achievement, I am certain that going forward, the Civil Service will ventilate itself and officers will be rewarded for hard-work,” she said.
Oyo-Ita said the resolution of the dispute would address the problem of dearth of Directors of Administration in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Oyo-Ita acknowledged the direct support of President Buhari in resolving the issues, adding that departments which were hitherto manned by officers in acting capacity would now be manned by substantive directors.
She noted that the quarterly meeting at the instance of the permanent secretary, welfare service office, was a good opportunity to improve industrial relations, urging the labour leaders to fully explore the opportunity presented by the platform to resolve all burning issues in order to promote industrial harmony.
“This meeting also affords the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation the opportunity to appraise labour about ongoing programme and activities, particularly as it relates to welfare of workers. The permanent secretary, service welfare office, has alerted me about some of the concerns of labour, which would be discussed at this forum,” she said.
“A number of these issues are already receiving the attention of my office. Very dear to my heart is the issue of conducive work environment for staff. To achieve this, I have recently set up a Committee on Office Allocation and Expansion with focus on maintenance, rehabilitation and expansion of office allocations to MDAs,” she said.
Oyo-Ita assured that all issues agreed at the separate meetings of the National Public Service Negotiating Councils I, II and II and the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council meeting would be presented to the National Council on Establishment (NCE), which would meet shortly.
The Head of Service also disclosed that government, through the approval of President Buhari, is working vigorously on implementation of Group Life Insurance for workers.
Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kiri Mohammed, in his remarks commended the Head of Service for the initiative aimed at creating industrial harmony.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to address some of the teething challenges confronting the Service including succession crisis and the issue of conducive working environment.
