Nigeria’s Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan describes rewards and recognition as a catalyst for more productivity in the Federal Civil Service.
Mrs Yemi-Esan said this at the 2023 Civil Service Week Award and Gala night in Abuja, Nigeria.
According to her, it’s the nature of all human beings to desire rewards and recognition for their outputs which in turn fuels them to go the extra mile.
She said the Reward and Recognition Scheme was introduced into the Civil Service as one of the Six Pillars of the Civil Service strategy and implementation plan and in line with global best practices.
“At the heart of such an environment lies an effective recognition and reward system that not only boosts employees’ morale but also enhances overall productivity and loyalty,” Yemi-Esan stated.
She further listed the five categories of the Recognition and Reward Awards.
” Presidential Distinguished Public Service Career Award; Presidential Civil Service Merit Award; Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Commendation Award; The Public Service Excellence Award, the Sports Achievement Award.”
The Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mahmud Kambari enumerated the objectives of the Rewards and Recognition Scheme.
“Establishing a comprehensive and robust rewards system that will improve productivity, as well as attract, nurture, develop and retain outstanding officers in the Civil Service; serving as a motivational tool to bring out the best from all MDAs; enhancing personal development for career progression and embedding a performance-driven reward system that will serve as an enabler for all other strands of effective people’s management, in an integrated fashion.”
He further informed the August gathering that the Officer with the highest score will be awarded the Presidential Distinguished Pubic Service Career Award. The second-best Awardee will receive the Presidential Public Service Merit Award, while the third-best awardee will receive the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Commendation Award.
He further noted that the fourth category of Awards, which is the Public Service Excellence Award, will be given to the remaining 29 awardees.
For the Sports Achievements Award, the nominee with the highest number of medals was considered.
The Permanent Secretary, however, noted with displeasure the late submission of entries from some Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of the Federal Government which led to the rejection of such entries and disqualification of the candidates.
Mr Kambari, therefore, urged all MDAs to henceforth submit names of intending participants within the stipulated time frame.
Thanksgiving
Meanwhile, Mrs Yemi-Esan has called on Civil servants to be deliberate about giving thanks to God on behalf of the Federal Civil Service in the country.
she said this at a Thanksgiving Service as part of the event commemorating the 2023 Civil Service Week in Nigeria.
According to her, given the Condition of the Service before now, there’s a need for all Civil servants to thank God for the massive transformation that has taken place.
Taking a position from the scriptures, Dr. Yemi-Esan read Psalms 138 noting that God was mindful and gracious to Civil servants.
“I want to thank God for my life specifically and I also want to thank God for what He’s doing in the Civil Service. So, I’ve come this morning on behalf of the Civil Service to say thank you to God. He has been faithful. When we look back and see what he has done, sometimes, I’m amazed myself. And I say, God, it can only be you because human beings can achieve all these.
” So I’ve returned this morning to rerun all the praise, all the glory, all the adoration to Him because everything has been by His own doing.”
