Reforms: Mass retirement of civil servants looms

By OKEY NDIRIBE
ABUJA-As the Head of Service of the Federation, Prof Oladapo Afolabi prepares to retire from service at the end of this month, no fewer than 300 federal civil servants may have been pencilled for disengagement by the Federal Government.

Investigations by Vanguard revealed that even though the mass retirement of federal civil servants is likely to affect middle and senior officers in all the ministries, it was in line with the civil service rules. All those affected were said to have either served the maximum period of 35 years or attained the age of 60 years.

It was learnt that the exercise was part of the on-going reforms within the Federal Civil Service . It was gathered that only last month three permanent secretaries were retired while another three were appointed as part of the reforms.

A list of over 30 affected civil servants who were affected by the exercise was sighted on a notice board at the Office of the Head of Service last Tuesday. The list contained names of officers on grade levels 7 to 17 who have been pencilled for retirement.

The memo which contained the list also indicated that those affected would be proceeding on pre-retirement training at various institutes for the training of public administrators and personnel managers in Abuja and Lagos. It was further gathered that some of the officers whose names were on the list have already been retired but were yet to undergo the pre-retirement training.

A source at Office of Head of Service which spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity said apart from those whose names had already been compiled to proceed on pre-retirement training, another list which would comprise the names of a fresh batch of civil servants would be released by next month.

Among institutes where the affected civil servants would undergo pre-retirement training are the Civil service Institute, Abuja, Centre for Management Development (CMD), Lagos and the Administrative and Staff College of Nigeria, also in Lagos. Vanguard learnt that while the junior level staff due for retirement would undergo their pre-retirement training at the Civil Service Institute, the middle and some senior level officers would be trained at CMD while directors from level 15 would be trained at ASCON.

It was also learnt that among the government departments involved in the exercise are the Office of Head of Service, the various ministries , Federal Civil Service Commission (FCC) and Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR). When contacted over the development, Mr Tope Ajakaiye the Deputy Director in charge of Press at the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation declined to comment on the exercise but rather referred Vanguard to BPSR. Efforts to contact officials of BPSR proved abortive.



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/reforms-mass-retirement-of-civil-servants-looms/

OMG i just S H I T me self!

Anyone that still entertains any doubt about the death of journalism and the dearth of quality education in Nigeria should take a look at this "report". How can a journalist equate retirement with reforms? Is it Afolabi that is misleading the public/press or the press misleading the public? So, Afolabi's retirement is in itself part of Afolabi's reforms? Let the public know that public officers at all levels are insincere and ignorant. That is why they always abuse the term "reform". Whenever they want to loot or cover their tracks, they will be mouthing "reform". Reform my foot.

what is the special thing with workers that have reached their retirement age ? and this news made front page

some should retire so others can be employed

dats a nice move, because even in my organisation pple who are serve 35 yrs and are 60yrs are still in ofis some even go back to their file and reduce their age, some of them even afta retirement they work their way out for contract job which causes unemployment.

hassymo5:

dats a nice move, because even in my organisation pple who are serve 35 yrs and are 60yrs are still in ofis some even go back to their file and reduce their age, some of them even afta retirement they work their way out for contract job which causes unemployment.

I take it that you are joking, ok? Certainly if anyone in your organization is due for retirement on account of age or lenght of service but still remains in active service for whatever reason and by whatever illegal means, that becomes a criminal matter and the right thing should be to enforce the extant public service rules and possibly prosecute him/her in court.

Secondly, if your organization or the civil service is still unable to stop falsification of records with cheap IT tools available all over the place in the year of our Lord 2011 or even thro good internal control measures; it only goes to show your that the leadership of your organization and in the case of the public service as a whole, Prof. Afolabi, are incompetent (which most of them are).

The real point however is that leaving service by retirement on account of length of service or age is NEVER equal to reform. But if you, Prof Afolabi and the "journalists" insist on calling it reforms, I am ready to give up. Afterall, this is Nigeria where anything goes.

300 is a low figure. The Federal Civil service should have a reliable database of all government employees that alerts them immediately a civil servant reaches 60years or 35years in service ( whichever oner is earlier) and access to the system should be restricted to a few to avoid people alterating their date or appointment or DOB.  Anything that is right doesn't last long because they won't just let it work.

We need to sack/retrench/retire at least half of the federal civil service. We can recruit the same number of new policemen if people are worrying about unemployment. Most of those people serve no useful purpose other than shuffling papers around and slowing down the work of government.

Nigeria is a poor country, we really can't afford to be feeding so many parasites.

What about the 'ghost workers' when will they retire from active service.

The wisest thing for anybody in our generation to do is to immediately start setting up "Plan B" for making/investing money.

NaijaNaWaa:

I take it that you are joking, ok? Certainly if anyone in your organization is due for retirement on account of age or lenght of service but still remains in active service for whatever reason and by whatever illegal means, that becomes a criminal matter and the right thing should be to enforce the extant public service rules and possibly prosecute him/her in court.

Secondly, if your organization or the civil service is still unable to stop falsification of records with cheap IT tools available all over the place in the year of our Lord 2011 or even thro good internal control measures; it only goes to show your that the leadership of your organization and in the case of the public service as a whole, Prof. Afolabi, are incompetent (which most of them are).

The real point however is that leaving service by retirement on account of length of service or age is NEVER equal to reform. But if you, Prof Afolabi and the "journalists" insist on calling it reforms, I am ready to give up. Afterall, this is Nigeria where anything goes.

you must be joking, managements staff in most organisation are they ones responsible for such act, i am still sayin that they will attain 35yrs and 65yrs but will still be in ofis, i see them all the time, if there is notings as such then why is the head of service making it a national issue, it is because they are aware of all dis things, so shut up!!!!!!!

reforms or retirement,wateva. d no shd be quadriled so dat same can be recruited.

Wat actually engineered dat?

begwong:

reforms or retirement,wateva. d no shd be quadriled so dat same can be recruited.