The Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) recently recruited 170
persons, living with disability into the Federal Civil Service.With the
extension of kindness, however, it is yet to pay the claims and
entitlements of about 30,000 of its staff that were sacked between 2006
and 2007 due to lack of funds for verification on the affected
personnel.The FCSC has been inundated with requests for payment of the
outstanding claims by these people, yet, nothing has come positive.
In the past two years, according to the Commission, the federal
government paid heavily on litigations because some Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) treat cases poorly due to the delay in
following up on such cases. As a preventive measure, the commission has
commenced a review of the civil service rules and regulations, to bring
them in tandem with current and emerging labour laws.
The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Deaconess Joan Ayo, disclosed this while soliciting for support from the Head of Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi, who was on a working visit to her office.
She said the 170 physically challenged persons were recruited on qualifications and in line with the federal character principle but regretted that they cannot fit into the system.
“They have been given appointments; some of them regrettably cannot fit into the system.
But we try to ensure that anyone given a job has something to do otherwise it will be frustrating to the commission and the affected person.”
Ayo, however, pleaded with the Head of Service to attach names of those given presidential waiver for recruitment.
“When names are attached and the affected persons are aware, they must be given jobs,” she said.
“Please just give us the waiver and send the candidates; they will be interviewed and recruited.”
Non-payment
On the payment of the entitlements of personnel affected in the sack eight years ago, Ayo revealed that the outstanding payment to the affected officers ranges from about 85 per cent of their entitlements, payment to staff who have changed their next-of-kin and payment to some staff who were short-changed on the basis of their current grade levels among other issues.
The steering committee, chaired by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, gave the responsibility to the Federal Civil Service Commission to set up a taskforce to verify and authenticate these claims.
The commission said: “These affected persons have been coming to the commission but we could not verify and authenticate the claims because of lack of fund.”
Ayo noted that about 30,000 staff were right-sized between 2006 and 2007.
“There is need to verify their claims and the documentation would advice the Accountant General and the Budget Office.
“We have been inundated with so many requests for such claims but we could not proceed because there is no funding for the assignment. Going by the timetable, the government is supposed to clear all the outstanding claims before the end of the year.
On huge litigation costs and losses, Ayo pleaded for an expedited action on the review before the end of the year because it has become imperative to ensure that government counsels are not at disadvantaged compared with their private counterparts in courts.
She, however, attributed the resolution of some of the huge litigations pending in courts to the recent posting of good lawyers to the Commission by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.
She said: “Already on that part under the chairmanship of the sub-committee in charge of rules and regulations, we had to resolve the matter and we are going to set up a committee that will look at the rules and regulations together.
“I know that your office has set up a committee and as soon as we conclude we are suggesting that we put these two together and get everything merged such that we will get the best to present perhaps to the Director General who finally presents it to government.”
Ayo stated that arrangements had been concluded with all the committee set up under The National Planning Commission, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) and Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF) for the commencement of the performance contract model in all the MDAs.
“The memo has been written and they are waiting for presentation to Council. And we do hope that before the end of this year we can start putting performance contract into practice, because it would form part of the instrument for policy and administrative uses.”
Explaining the lack of succession plan in the Service as source of concern especially in the administrative cadre, Ayo said: “On one or two occasions when we visited your office, we agreed that we should look into cases of succession gap in the ministries.
“We have started working on this, starting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ advertisement for the vacancies also on the website. We have also asked the Ministry of Justice to present their vacancies so we can advertise them.
“Thirdly we are waiting for the office of the Accountant General to submit its own. They have given us their vacancies, but we want them to give the qualification and positions to be advertised that will enable us do the right thing.”
In his remark, Kifasi promised to institute compulsory training for all administrative cadres of MDAs to equip them better for performance contract deliverables. He added that human capacity is essential if the transformation agenda of the present administration is to be realized, assuring that both bodies will work to strengthen their collaborative relationship.
“We want to continue with the partnership that has already been established by my predecessor. We have a joint responsibility to manage the employees of the civil service and to improve on the performance of the MDAs. If we work as a team, we are most likely to succeed because we have been given a task to ensure that the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan is achieved.”
On succession plan in the Service, Kifasi said, “I want to assure you that that is the number one target I have set for myself. Because we find that leadership is key in any country that ever recorded success. I will put in place the capacity building programme in the Public Service Institute and the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON). I believe once they train the first batch on the programme that we are working on I intend to have a forum in the Civil Service Commission because we should have two strings of trainings. The first phase will be on leadership and succession plan.
The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Deaconess Joan Ayo, disclosed this while soliciting for support from the Head of Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi, who was on a working visit to her office.
She said the 170 physically challenged persons were recruited on qualifications and in line with the federal character principle but regretted that they cannot fit into the system.
“They have been given appointments; some of them regrettably cannot fit into the system.
But we try to ensure that anyone given a job has something to do otherwise it will be frustrating to the commission and the affected person.”
Ayo, however, pleaded with the Head of Service to attach names of those given presidential waiver for recruitment.
“When names are attached and the affected persons are aware, they must be given jobs,” she said.
“Please just give us the waiver and send the candidates; they will be interviewed and recruited.”
Non-payment
On the payment of the entitlements of personnel affected in the sack eight years ago, Ayo revealed that the outstanding payment to the affected officers ranges from about 85 per cent of their entitlements, payment to staff who have changed their next-of-kin and payment to some staff who were short-changed on the basis of their current grade levels among other issues.
The steering committee, chaired by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, gave the responsibility to the Federal Civil Service Commission to set up a taskforce to verify and authenticate these claims.
The commission said: “These affected persons have been coming to the commission but we could not verify and authenticate the claims because of lack of fund.”
Ayo noted that about 30,000 staff were right-sized between 2006 and 2007.
“There is need to verify their claims and the documentation would advice the Accountant General and the Budget Office.
“We have been inundated with so many requests for such claims but we could not proceed because there is no funding for the assignment. Going by the timetable, the government is supposed to clear all the outstanding claims before the end of the year.
On huge litigation costs and losses, Ayo pleaded for an expedited action on the review before the end of the year because it has become imperative to ensure that government counsels are not at disadvantaged compared with their private counterparts in courts.
She, however, attributed the resolution of some of the huge litigations pending in courts to the recent posting of good lawyers to the Commission by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.
She said: “Already on that part under the chairmanship of the sub-committee in charge of rules and regulations, we had to resolve the matter and we are going to set up a committee that will look at the rules and regulations together.
“I know that your office has set up a committee and as soon as we conclude we are suggesting that we put these two together and get everything merged such that we will get the best to present perhaps to the Director General who finally presents it to government.”
Ayo stated that arrangements had been concluded with all the committee set up under The National Planning Commission, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) and Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF) for the commencement of the performance contract model in all the MDAs.
“The memo has been written and they are waiting for presentation to Council. And we do hope that before the end of this year we can start putting performance contract into practice, because it would form part of the instrument for policy and administrative uses.”
Explaining the lack of succession plan in the Service as source of concern especially in the administrative cadre, Ayo said: “On one or two occasions when we visited your office, we agreed that we should look into cases of succession gap in the ministries.
“We have started working on this, starting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ advertisement for the vacancies also on the website. We have also asked the Ministry of Justice to present their vacancies so we can advertise them.
“Thirdly we are waiting for the office of the Accountant General to submit its own. They have given us their vacancies, but we want them to give the qualification and positions to be advertised that will enable us do the right thing.”
In his remark, Kifasi promised to institute compulsory training for all administrative cadres of MDAs to equip them better for performance contract deliverables. He added that human capacity is essential if the transformation agenda of the present administration is to be realized, assuring that both bodies will work to strengthen their collaborative relationship.
“We want to continue with the partnership that has already been established by my predecessor. We have a joint responsibility to manage the employees of the civil service and to improve on the performance of the MDAs. If we work as a team, we are most likely to succeed because we have been given a task to ensure that the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan is achieved.”
On succession plan in the Service, Kifasi said, “I want to assure you that that is the number one target I have set for myself. Because we find that leadership is key in any country that ever recorded success. I will put in place the capacity building programme in the Public Service Institute and the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON). I believe once they train the first batch on the programme that we are working on I intend to have a forum in the Civil Service Commission because we should have two strings of trainings. The first phase will be on leadership and succession plan.
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