Head of Service seeks more training slots for civil servants

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, HoCSF, Folasade Yemi-Esan, has called for more training slots to be allotted to Civil Servants across all sectors in the Federation.

 

Yemi-Esan made the call when she received a delegation of the  Management of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, led by the Director General,  Professor Ayo Omotayo, in Abuja, Nigeria.

 

She said the Management should have a rethink on the entry position, as well as allocated slots for  Federal Civil Servants into the Senior Executive Course (SEC).

 

She lamented that only substantive Directors are considered eligible for admission, while the bar is being lowered for Public Servants, especially the Military and Paramilitary.

 

The Head of Service bemoaned the meagre seven slots being offered to the Service, annually urging them to do a comparative analysis of posts in the Federal Civil Service vis-a-vis those of the Public Service with a view to correcting the anomaly, adding that the data is readily accessible.

 

The HoCSF, however, commended NIPSS for re-tooling the personnel in government through the conduct of courses for middle and top level Officers with the understanding and application of modern policy formulation and strategic management skills to problem-solving in the pursuit of national developmental goals.

 

While responding to the concerns and issues raised by the Director General, Mrs Yemi-Esan, concurred that a collaboration between the Institute and the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation would make for a better understanding of Government policies and their effectiveness in moving the country forward.

 

She further acknowledged the quality of work put in by the Institute, buttressing it with the fact that in the last three years, a substantial number of the present crops of Transformative Federal Permanent Secretaries were products of NIPSS.

 

On the proposed certification of Directors undergoing SEC as Policy Analysts, the HoCSF disclosed that it will be economically unwise to spend funds training Officers, who have less than three or four years to exit the Service, given that the certificates were for proficiency and not career progression, which negates the primary purpose of value addition.

 

Regarding the replacement of staff that had left the service of the Institute, Dr. Yemi-Esan, asked the management to apply for a waiver, since there is an embargo on employment while highlighting that the process of authorised establishments starts towards the end of each year.

 

She further directed the Institute to make a presentation to the Salaries, Income and Wages Commission concerning the peasant emolument of its staff as raised by the Director General, stressing that the HOCSF only has responsibility for establishment matters.

 

While soliciting for more effective collaboration, Prof.  Omotayo, stated that the HOCSF, being the think-tank of the government, should ensure that policies are well articulated, as well as executed to the latter.

 

He also guaranteed that NIPSS will continue to develop mechanisms toward ensuring that government policies are properly executed.

 

Dominica Nwabufo