5,000 workers may not receive November salary – Head of Service
No fewer than five thousand workers in the Nigerian civil service may go without their November salary due to abnormalities in their employment documents.
Before now, the number had been as high as seventeen thousand, according to revelations from the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation HOSF.
Addressing the media in Abuja on Tuesday, the National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants in Nigeria ASCSN, Dr Tommy Okon, said that a total of 2,772 persons have been verified and forwarded to the Integrated Personal and Payroll Information System IPPIS for payment because there were no issues adding that the names of 5,000 workers who have discrepancies are to be forwarded to their Director Human Resources for confirmation.
“As you are aware that the physical verification exercise of the 17,000 Core Civil Servants who were delisted from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) was concluded in October, 2023 and those involved were in the high spirit waiting for their monthly salary which was stopped since September, 2023 to be restored.
“As of today, only those who had earlier completed their verification exercise but were mistakenly delisted have had their salaries restored while 5,000 civil servants still have discrepancies on their date of First Appointment and
date of birth.
“A total of 2,772 have been verified and forwarded to IPPIS for payment because there were no issues. The names of 5,000 workers who have discrepancies are to be forwarded to their DHR for confirmation”, he said.
Six teams, he said are working to ensure that the exercise was completed on time.
Dr Okon advised Public Servants to develop the habit of checking the HOS Website for regular updates.
“We have confirmed that the salary for the month of November, 2023 is concluded, therefore, those affected will not be able to get their salary for the month of November. However, effort is been made by the HOSF to ensure that those cleared will get their salaries for December, 2023 including the arrears from September.
“We appeal to the Federal Government through the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to expedite action to ensure that the salary of December is not delayed while we urge our members to exercise patient as we are doing everything within the ambit of the laws to ensure that the issues are resolved expeditiously”.
Speaking on the recent promotion examination for Directors aspiring to attain the position of Permanent Secretaries, the ASCSN President, expressed displeasure over the claim that some its members are calling for the cancellation of the exams.
“Gentlemen of the press, let me also invite your attention to what we call miscarriage of facts by the social media handlers on the recent promotion examination for Directors aspiring the office of the Permanent Secretaries and faceless group called “senior civil servants.
“We have followed with great concern and dismay, recent publications in a section of the social media claiming that civil servants have called for the cancellation of the promotion exams for Directors aspiring for the position of Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Civil Service.
“The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria is a registered and recognized trade union listed in the Third Schedule of the Trade Unions Act as well as by the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette.
“Therefore, it is absolutely unacceptable and questionable for the purported group to propagate the alleged comments of faceless individuals who claims to be civil servants as though their opinions are those of the entirety of the service”, Dr Okon said.
He added that; “What is more disturbing he said, was the demand of the group to “circumvent meritocracy in the civil service with regards to the very critical task of selecting eligible Directors for appointment to the post of Permanent Secretary”.
Quoting relevant laws, Dr Tommy Okon recalled that Chapter 2, Sections 020811-020813 on promotion in the Revised Public Service Rules PSR prescribes the eligibility criteria and selection process for the post of Permanent Secretary and listed them as follows:
The candidate must: –
- be a Director on Grade Level (GL) 17 and in the main stream of the Federal Civil Service;
- have been verified on the IPPIS portal/ platform as having been confirmed as a staff of the Federal Government of Nigeria;
- be at least two (2) years on the post of Director;
- not be retiring on or before the 31st of December of the following year;
- provide proof of indigeneAship of the State where vacancy exists;
- Indigene ship of a State must not be by marriage in case of a female Civil Servant; and
- not have a pending disciplinary action against him.
He added that the PSR states that the selection shall be through competitive examination process including but not limited to written examination, test of ICT proficiency and oral interview and Resource persons from the Civil/Public Service and Private institutions may be involved in the selection process.
Overtime, according to the President, the Civil Service has suffered exponential decadence of its pool of highly skilled and knowledgeable officers adding that the Association cannot continue to pay lip service to the need to scale up the quality of the civil servants especially those at the senior level who are expected to demonstrate “impeccable character and capability to drive government projects and programmes”.
