The president, who met with the Head of Service, The Body Of Permanent Secretaries, and some Directors-General of agencies at the State House, on Thursday, said policies impacting the welfare of the people and the economy must be treated with urgency, diligence, and a strong sense of duty.

President Tinubu warned that the ineffectiveness and unnecessary bureaucracy that resulted in the delay of interventions on the economy and with programmes targeting vulnerable citizens would not be tolerated.

He directed that a monthly briefing by The Head Of Service and submission of key performance indicator, KPI, reports should be made to his office for review, and that quarterly interactive meetings between the President and The Body of Permanent Secretaries would now be scheduled.

READ ALSO: Hardship: Sanwo-Olu releases pressure-easing measures in Lagos

The Head Of Service and The Body Of Permanent Secretaries have been mandated by the president to consistently measure progress in actualising the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration.

“Before the next meeting, I want to see progress in the civil service. I have been sending people to check the level of work that gets done. Service to the nation is extremely important. We are to change the narrative on Nigeria.

“You and I can change the perception about Africa, not just Nigeria. We might not get it 100 per cent right, but if we are focused, I think we can totally change and reshape the trajectory of our country in the right direction,’’ he said.

President Tinubu asked public servants to always think and work with a generational understanding of their role in shaping national history, knowing that they serve as the engine room of the government and that their actions will affect more than 200 million people in the country and abroad.

“Let us make our children’s dreams come true. Why are we slowing that down?

“It is not just shameful. It is unacceptable. We made a pledge to bring our people out of poverty. You should not increase their vulnerability. Help Nigerians to get out of these problems, do not compound the tough situation with unacceptable delays,’’ the president said.

Before President Tinubu’s address, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, briefed him on the performance of the service in relation to previously established KPIs across multiple assessment streams.

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The unveiling was done by Mr Olawale Edun, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on monetary policies, at a public service lecture, as part of the activities to mark the 2023 Civil Service Week in Abuja on Thursday.

The theme for the service week is: “Digitalisation of work processes in the public service: A gateway to efficient resources utilisation and national development.”

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, HOCSF, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, said Nigeria was fully keying into digitalised public service to meet the required global standards of service operations, hence the need for digital policy in the service.

“Following the very extensive work carried out to put in place the required mechanisms for the smooth transition from physical handling of tasks, I am pleased to state that the office of the Head of Service has gone digital with its work processes.

“By this, I mean, all the personal and policy files have been scanned and stored in digital format; workflow processes are now transacted within the office digitally,” she said.

According to Yemi-Esan, all official correspondence in form of memos, internal and external circulars were processed electronically through the Enterprise Content Management, ECM, being one of the pillars of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021 –2025, FCSSIP25.

The initiative she said, was designed to transform the Federal Civil Service to a world class service which had noted the need for digitisation of the public service.

READ ALSO: Lagos: Govt begins new innovation for civil service promotion

The HOS said all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were expected to key into digitisation initiative by the end of the year 2025.

“From the service-wide perspective, all MDAs are running with the digitisation programme and are at different stages of implementation; with a mandate for all to achieve full migration by the end of 2025.

“It is pleasing to note, some MDAs have also deployed some ECM solutions for their workflows,” she said.

Edun expressed delight over the introduction of technology in the civil service system, adding that such innovative ideas could make work faster and reliable in the course of delivering services to the workers.

In an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Prof. Stefan Dercon, a Guest Speaker, who spoke on “Driving Digital Transformation in the Public Service in Nigeria” explained that workers could deliver better services with the adoption of technology in service.

Dercon, also a Professor of Economic Policy, University of Oxford, stated further that the application of digital knowledge would give workers opportunity to be more transparent, clearer and efficient while on duty.

He nevertheless, advised the public servants that running services to the nation was a privilege where one had opportunity to be useful in all aspects of life even after leaving the service.

“Being a civil servant is a privilege because you act or do a lot of things, you are already in a position to act and you have to try a lot to do your best,” he said.

Source: NAN

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The event took place at the council chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Present at the occasion were Vice President Kashim Shettima; President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, and governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

Also at the occasion were the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, and the wife of the new SGF, Mrs Regina Akume.

Recall that Tinubu announced the appointment of the the immediate past Minister of Special Duties, George Akume, as the SGF, on Friday.

Also, the president announced the Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila as Chief of Staff, and a former Deputy Governor of Jigawa State, Sen. Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, as Deputy Chief of Staff.

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The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, HOCSF, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, made this know on Friday in Abuja in a statement by Mr Mohammed Ahmed, Director of Communication in her office.

Yemi-Esan said the appointment was with effect from Thursday, May 18.

She added that the new appointee was to resume immediately.

Source: NAN

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As of today, Nigerian students have been home for about 130 days no thanks to the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities which has been on for over four months. There are at least 1.2 million students in Nigeria’s federal universities currently idling away at home. Meanwhile, our leaders are busy politicking about who takes over in 2023.  Despite making numerous promises to stifle corruption, this administration has overseen some of the most egregious financial crimes. Billions of Naira that could have been invested in buying weapons to fight insecurity, fund education and address other societal malaise have been reported to have wiggled their way into the pockets of the high and mighty in many atrocious ways in the past few months.

Yet, the Muhammadu Buhari-led government is moving on as if all is well. They have told us that the protracted issues surrounding ASUU demands are complex but that they will continue to figure out how they could be resolved. I need not say that it has taken successive Nigerian governments more than 30 years to resolve these so-called complexities in the ASUU demands.

Nigerians may have a better understanding of the gravity of the charge against Nigeria’s suspended AGF Ahmed Idris when we consider how long it took the Federal Government to release N34 billion for the payment of consequential adjustment for the minimum wage of workers in the education system – something that should be a legitimate right of these workers.

I started covering ASUU strike as an education reporter with the Tribune newspapers in the 90s.  Then reporters would wait till midnight for the outcome of negotiations between the Federal Government and ASUU representatives at the federal ministry of education complex which now serves as the National Open University complex in Lagos. Our usual headline then was: “FG, ASUU talks end in deadlock’’ Devastatingly, this is still the headline today, yet we have individuals that could steal at least N80bn from the national treasury.

Nigerians may have a better understanding of the gravity of the charge against Nigeria’s suspended AGF Ahmed Idris when we consider how long it took the Federal Government to release N34 billion for the payment of consequential adjustment for the minimum wage of workers in the education system – something that should be a legitimate right of these workers.

Now, let’s do a little breakdown of what N80bn could mean to the existence of Nigerian federal universities. As of 2019, Nigeria according to Statista, had 73,400  academic employees in its universities and this  figure included professors, readers, and lecturers.  The Federal universities employed the highest number of these academic staff which included 7,000 professors, 3,400 readers and 29,000 senior lecturers, lecturers and below.

In other words, the N34bn released by the FG was meant to take care of part of the wages of this huge number of academic staff in Nigeria’s federal universities. Yet it is not even up to half of the money that an individual has been accused of stealing from the same Nigeria’s treasury.  Yet the government keeps saying it does not have enough money to meet ASUU demands.

I recently received the news report that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the process for appointing a new Accountant General of the Federation with mixed feelings. While the development brought some relief, it also brought some trepidation as well. I have been paying heightened attention to the affairs of the Office of the Accountant General since the reports of high-level graft in the institution were brought to light. Something interesting that I found recently was a memo from the workers unions addressed to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed.

Unsurprisingly, the memo all-but-confirmed to me that the OAGF might have been run haphazardly since the suspension of Ahmed Idris, Nigeria’s AGF accused of corruption to the tune of N80bn.  In the letter dated June 6, the staff unions pleaded with the finance minister to adhere to the provision of a certain circular called the “Federal Establishment Circular 2011-2020” in subsequent appointments of an AGF thus implying that the appointment of the current acting AGF, Anamekwe Nwabuoku, whose tenure is billed to end soon, might not have followed the due process.

Part of the provision of the Circular 2011-2020 which I learnt originated from the Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government is that “Pending the appointment of a substantive Head of Extra-Ministerial Department/Director General/Chief Executive Officer of parastatals, Agency, Commission and Government Owned company, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer must hand over to the next most Senior Officer of the establishment, as long as the officer does not have any pending disciplinary matter.”  Maybe Nwabuoku was not the most senior director in the OAGF as of the time of his appointment.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, while relating the President’s directive on the appointment of a new AGF, has said that the substantive AGF should be taken from the pool of directors in the office of the AGF. Therefore, all accountants in the pool who have attained Grade Level 17 by January 2020 and are not retiring till December 2024 are eligible to participate in the exercise except those undergoing disciplinary action. This sounds logical. But here is the crux of the matter. Does this address the workers’ demand?  Who takes charge of the OAGF before the appointment of a substantive AGF?

Having watched the federal government’s ill-treatment of workers in other sectors, their recent subversion of the workers’ demands further explicates a concerning pattern of behaviour. Going by the workers’ demand, the most senior director (Accounts) in the OAGF should be in charge pending the appointment of a substantive AGF.  Will government grant this demand or will the OAGF remain rudderless until the appointment of a substantive AGF?

For one, simply studying this recent development alludes to the ridiculous level of unaccountability and inconsistency present in the methods of appointment of the Accountant General of the Federation, which is a travesty! Also, we do not need a soothsayer to tell us that leaving the treasury rudderless is an indirect invitation to unimaginable graft and looting in a country like ours. With what we have been told allegedly transpired at the OAGF by a sitting leader himself, I don’t want to imagine for a second what would happen to Nigeria’s treasury if we get to a point where nobody can be held accountable for what goes wrong there.  Imagine a treasury where the main overseer has been accused of stealing N80bn by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission? The anti-graft agency has also said that it has uncovered a fresh N90bn graft bringing the total scam to N170bn.

If this happens in a well-structured system, imagine what would happen when nobody is held accountable.  Looting galore!  This is not in any way implying that a mere appointment of a senior director to oversee the OAGF will drastically cut down on corruption in the office but at least, having somebody in charge will provide some sense of sanity and control.  We know Nigeria is in a big mess but our leaders still owe us the duty of minimising our losses via looting.

The AGF is the administrative head of the treasury of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  It is high time we started interrogating how people are appointed into this office. For example, should the Office of the AGF be held by political appointees or just strictly career civil servants. Would there be any significant difference in the way our treasuries are managed if the occupiers of these offices climb the civil service ladder and leave in line with civil service rules guiding their age of retirement?

From the directive of the president, it would appear that the appointment is expected to follow the civil service rules. But what happens before a substantive AGF is appointed? Who will be in charge of the OAGF?  How can a country leave its treasury rudderless and still expect things to run normally? Who oversees the office and from whom do we require account? Could our leaders be deliberately creating a situation where people can loot and steal? Why should workers be begging a minister to ensure a proper handing over in an establishment? Again, what happens after the tenure of whoever becomes Nigeria’s new AGF? Would a president appoint a replacement or follow the civil service rules?

We can’t keep creating opportunities for unaccountability or mismanagement by flouting well-laid down rules.

Common sense demands that just as we should have models and structures policies that better our education, national security and economy, we should also have a structured model for appointing an accountant general. If we want to give the job to career civil servants, let’s stick to it. Make no mistake, this is not to say that civil servants can never be fingered concerning issues of corruption. After all, some people have alleged that civil servants are even more corrupt than politicians. In fact, most of the Nigerian children schooling abroad are reportedly children of senior civil servants and politically exposed Nigerians and their ability to foot the astronomical tuition costs of foreign education (in foreign currency) probably alludes to some truth that many civil servants are involved in graft.

However, this does not undermine the need for orderliness and consistency in the system. If the question of order is settled, we can now focus on making corrupt people pay for their sins. In my opinion, punishment for graft should include total confiscation of both assets and a total refund of the money stolen from our treasury.

We can’t keep creating opportunities for unaccountability or mismanagement by flouting well-laid down rules. It simply exposes our system to compromise, with the possibility of introducing characters who loot national assets, ruin education, security, economy and invariably the lives of thousands of Nigerian citizens.

*Deji-Folutile (PhD) is the editor-in-chief of franktalknow.com and member, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email: bisideji@yahoo.co.uk

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Folashade Yemi-Esan, Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF), briefed State House correspondents after FEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Yemi-Esan said that the annual leave would henceforth be calculated based on working days instead of calendar days.

She said that the Annual Performance Evaluation Review, APER, and promotions had been replaced with a new Performance Management System.

“We presented a memo on the revised Public Service Rules (PSR); and we are all aware that the PSR is an old important tool in the public service; it is what governs the actions of public servants at work.

“The last time these rules were revised was in 2008; and so, we recognise that the revision was long overdue.

“And so, we put everything that we got to ensure that we did the vision; these rules ideally, are supposed to be revised every fives.

“But this has taken more than that for us to get the revised PSR 2021.’’

She said that in doing the revision, there were a lot of stakeholder engagements.

Yemi-Esan said that a circular was put out for inputs from different sectors and from various groups that wanted amendments to the PSR.

“We set up different committees to look at what we got; and finally, a technical committee that consisted of permanent secretaries serving and retired and directors were put together to look at the zero draft that we got.

“After they reviewed it, we took it to the National Council on Establishment.’’

She said that at the National Council on Establishment, the essence of the PSR was approved.

The head of service said that there were some revisions that were supposed to be made before making the new PSR public.

“Those revisions have been done; and so, we brought it to FEC this morning for approval and we got approval for it.

“Some of the revisions that we made – the first thing was that the 2008 version had 16 chapters; meanwhile, the 2021 version now has 17 chapters in it.

“The chapter on APER and Promotions has been replaced by a new chapter on the New Performance Management System that has been introduced into the public service.

“There’s also a chapter that has also been reinvigorated –the chapter on training – this is an all important chapter because of the importance that training has in the public service.’’

She said the revised PSR also had a new chapter on virtual meetings.

According to her, some of the guidelines in the policy document earlier approved by FEC were put into the new PSR.

“And so, we have accepted virtual meetings as a tool to be used in service now and there are some guidelines there.

“We also got approval to include paternity leave; this is something that is new, and this is something that the unions in the service asked that we include and luckily, we have been able to include it.

“We’ve also been able to ensure that leave now is calculated based on working days not on calendar days–that also has been approved.

“We also have introduced the transition from paper service to a digital service.

“So, these are some of the new things that are in the new PSR that has just been approved by FEC,’’ she said.

Yemi-Esan said that there would be a transition period from APER to the new system as work had started with some  pilot ministries.

Source: NAN

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Speaking today through his deputy, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, at the opening of the 42nd meeting of the National Council on Establishment in Ikeja, the governor emphasised that “in the 21st Century where technology and innovation are the main drivers of development, our public service must not live in the past; it must reflect the new age and strive to be competitive as a foremost public service in the sub-region and Africa.”

While stressing that the public service, no doubt occupied strategic position in governance as a result of the responsibilities entrusted in their care, Sanwo-Olu noted that no government could succeed in actualising its vision and plan for the people without an effective, efficient and innovative public service charged with its responsibility of implementing government policies and programmes.

He disclosed that his administration accorded conditions of service and staff welfare a pride of place in the state and was committed to ensuring that its serving and retired public servants were deservedly compensated and appreciated for their meritorious services.

The governor remarked that the state government was resolute in its conviction to bequeath a greater Lagos to both present and future generation.

Earlier in her address, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, stated that in line with its role as the engine room for national development, a modern Nigerians civil service must remain strategically positioned to develop and drive reforms that would have transformational impact on all sectors of the nation’s economy.

She emphasised that as service providers, civil servants must brace up to meeting the challenges of service delivery and other dividends of democracy to the rising population of the country.

Yemi-Esan added that arising from the challenge, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was putting in place, a number of mechanisms to drive its flagship digitalisation project.

According to her, that included the implementation of a service-wide Enterprise Content Management Solution, ECMS, which is aimed at digitising records and automating workflow to achieve overall improvement in information sharing and collaboration across the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

In addition, she disclosed that her office was already finalising the development of Standard Operating Procedures, SOPs, for all processes ahead of the service-wide roll out for the Enterprise Content Management Solution, ECMs.

In his remarks, Lagos State Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, noted that meeting would avail the council the opportunity of midwifing the required improvement in the civil service delivery.

He stated that “It is clearly evident that yesterday’s skills have proved inadequate in addressing today’s issues. There is therefore no gainsaying that today’s knowledge and skills may not be sufficient in confronting tomorrow’s challenges”.

He also noted that the world had become more dynamic than ever before, the pace of change was unbelievably fast and it was manifestly clear that the work would be significantly determined by emerging technologies.

He stated the meeting presented a unique opportunity to interrogate and review the structure, processes and procedure in a way “that will enable the council engineer a more responsive public service structure in which all public officers would be imbued with the core values of discipline, ethics and the highest standards of professionalism by default.

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Yemi-Esan, who gave the advice in a circular issued on Friday in Abuja, said government was engaging with the union officials over the planned industrial action.

The circular reads in part: “Sequel to the Labour Unions call for workers to embark on industrial action from Monday Sept. 28.

“The HOCSF wishes to inform all public servants that the Federal Government team is currently engaging with the labour unions to resolving all contentious issues and avert the planned industrial actions.”

She said there was a court injunction granted by the National Industrial Court (suit no. NICN/ABJ/253/2020) on Sept. 24.

The court oder, the HOCSF explained, had restrained the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria from embarking on industrial action pending the hearing and delamination of motion on notice.

“Accordingly, all officers on grade level 12 and above and those on essential services are hereby strongly advised to be at work to perform their official duties.

“Permanent Secretaries and Chief Executive Officers are therefore, enjoined to bring the contents of this circular to the attention of all concerned and ensure strict compliance, ” HOCSF advised.

Source: NAN

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Also, those on essential duties are to resume work fully.

The directive was given in a circular on Monday by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi Esan.

The workers, she said, would resume work from Monday to Friday, and be in the office from 8am to 4pm as is the normal situation.

It would be recalled that workers on Grade Level 14 and above that had resumed work earlier have been working three days in a week.

Chief Executive Officers were directed to ensure full compliance with the directives on the COVID-19 pandemic preventive measures, including physical distancing, regular washing and/or sanitising of hands and wearing of face masks.

She also warned against over-crowding in offices.

She also said duty roasters might be prepared in a situation where the number of staff resuming work was large.

The decision to make the new set of staff resume work followed the the directive by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to that effect with due consideration of the health implication of the number of those recalled to commence work.

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The same directive was given to those on essential services to resume work.

The directive was given on Monday by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan.

According to a statement issued by the Director of Information in her office, Mrs Olawunmi Ogunmosunle, on Tuesday, Yemi-Esan on Tuesday warned that there should be strict adherence to measures put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Her words: “To this effect, concerned officers are hereby directed to report to work daily; Monday through Friday from 9 a. m. to 2p. m. daily.

“The officers are to ensure full compliance with the directives and advice on the prevention of the COVID -19 pandemic.

“These measures include maintenance of physical distancing, regular washing and /or sanitising of hands and wearing of facemasks.”

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