Government to boost capacity, competence of civil servants

President Muhammadu Buhari said the Federal Government would spare no efforts at improving the competencies of officials in the civil service through training and re-training of staff in line with the Personnel Management System (PMS) initiative.

He assured Nigerians that opportunities would also be created for individuals to develop according to their personal needs, attributes and talents. He promised that very soon, all salaries of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) would be harmonised.

According to him, there is a move by the government to assuage the cry of many civil servants over wage disparities in the MDAs that has lingered over the years.

‘’This administration is working towards improving the value proposition of the civil service, accordingly, I have set up the Presidential Committee to harmonise salaries service-wide. 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 of all civil servants as a starting point,’’ the President said.

Buhari disclosed this at the launch of the civil service Culture Change Video and the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021—2025 to mark this year’s Nigeria Civil Service Day Celebration in Abuja

Represented by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Mohammed Musa Bello, the Buhari said that while the process is ongoing, civil servants are expected to be hopeful and be patient with government and continue to give their best to their fatherland.

The Theme of this year’s celebration is ‘’Performance Management System (PMS) -Impact on Productivity.’’

In a welcome address, the Head of Service (HOS), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan said that the commemoration of the celebration provided a platform for African nations to recognise the value and virtue of service to the community.

It also aims to highlight and share the best practices to enable the service reposition itself for enhanced performance.

She explained that the PMS adoption is an innovative way of not only getting more work done efficiently and effectively, but also ensuring an objective way of measuring performance which is why far-reaching efforts are being made in the Nigeria Civil Service to replace the subjective Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) with PMS.

Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, urged MDAs to embrace an excellence-focused culture and improve their knowledge to achieve national development.

He made the call at the special Town Hall Meeting to celebrate the 2022 Civil Service Week in Abuja.

According to Adamu, the public service remains the most potent and viable instrument available all over the world for the implementation of policies and programmes of government.

He said public servants must avail themselves of the opportunities that the service provides, saying this is crucial, to remain relevant in the fast-changing highly technological modern work environment.

He said the workers must individually and collectively strive at continuous capacity building to meet all challenges, promising that the ministry would continue to play its part towards meeting the target.