THE crisis in the federal civil service appeared to have
worsened with career civil servants protesting against the
absorption of 530 aides and cronies of former President
Goodluck Jonathan into the civil service in the last days of
the past administration.
The new recruits into the service were also said to have
been installed in high positions, from assistant directors
upward.
Already, six deputy directors in the federal civil service are in
court to protest against the manner the last promotion
examination to directors’ level was handled by the Federal
Civil Service Commission.
The FCSC released the list of newly-promoted directors in
October 2014.
The six aggrieved deputy directors – Dr. John Magbadelo,
Mrs. Ada Ihechukwu Madubuike, Mrs. Ganiat Ayodele, Mr.
Olusegun Oginni, Mrs. Janet Ayorinde and Mr. Otajele Musa
– filed an action at the National Industrial Court on March
26, 2015 to question the exercise.
Most senior civil servants are said to be unhappy with the
FCSC, a situation which is said to have been made worse by
the Jonathan recruits into the service.
Sources told The PUNCH in Abuja on Sunday that between
the time Jonathan lost the presidential election of April 11
and the May 29 handover date, 530 persons from different
backgrounds had their appointments into the civil service
regularised.
A director in one of the sensitive ministries told our
correspondent that the FCSC, through ‘‘crafty schemes’’,
brought into the civil service “numerous aides of the former
President Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and
ministers.
The director, who asked not to be named, said, “These new
recruits are placed on very high grades as assistant
directors, deputy directors, and directors.
It was gathered from a reliable source that their
appointments were made through a “regularisation window’’,
which the FCSC backdated to December, 2014.
“Through regularisation, fresh graduate appointees were
placed on Grade Level 12 instead of Grade Level 08, while
some others were upgraded to very high levels in defiance of
extant rules. We now have letters of regularisation flying
around the ministries.
“No fewer than 530 people are being regularised into the
service from different backgrounds, including unscheduled
private enterprises. These atrocities are responsible for the
depletion of vacancies, which ought to be utilised for the
promotion of deserving serving officers in the federal civil
service.”
Another aggrieved director in one of the parastatals under
the Presidency said that the FCSC had, in the last six years,
been under serious pressure by ranking politicians, who
insisted on giving jobs in the civil service as rewards to their
cronies.
The director cited the case of one political appointee, who
was allegedly moved from Grade Level 09 to Grade level 16,
and subsequently moved three months after to the post of
director on Salary Grade Level 17.
He said this was just one of the many recent irregularities
perpetrated by the FCSC, “while the chairman of the FCSC,
Deaconess Joan Ayo, keeps saying that lack of vacancy was
responsible for the non-promotion of most deputy directors
who passed last year’s promotion examination.”
“Just anybody with the right connection or big purse can be
promoted or transferred to the post of a director in the civil
service today. These transfers are being done in violation of
the extant public service rules, which the FCSC published
and circulated to all government offices,” the official alleged.
Many of the directors, who spoke to our correspondent on
the alleged rot in the civil service, called for the review of
both the promotion exercise and “illegal” recruitment into the
high cadre in the government offices.
But the FCSC has denied the allegation, saying it never
recruited illegally into the civil service.
The Assistant Director of Press, FCSC, Dr. Joel Oruche, said
the allegations of illegal recruitment for political reasons
were all lies.
Oruche said, “At no time did the commission employ aides of
former President, Vice President, ministers or any key
political figure in the Jonathan’s government, either as a
parting gift or in compliance with a directive from the above-
mentioned political figures.
“The FCSC, in the discharge of its mandate, has put in place,
internal checks and balances in the process of appointments
and promotion. This guarantees transparent process that
checkmates activities and antics of fraudsters, who are in
the business of issuing fake appointment letters.
“For the avoidance of doubts, FCSC begins appointments
only when the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the
Federation has forwarded vacancies to it. These declared
vacancies are shared among the 36 states of the federation
and the FCT. Appointments into the vacant positions are
processed by honourable commissioners representing
respective states.
“After processing the appointments by commissioners, all
appointment letters are checked and signed by the director
in charge of recruitment and appointment while the Office of
the Permanent Secretary puts the commission’s seal on the
letters.”
However, the Secretary-General of the Association of Senior
Civil Servants of Nigeria, Mr. Alade Lawal, confirmed that
there had been rampant cases of illegal recruitment into the
civil service.
Lawal said the FCSC had bastardised the recruitment
process into the service on the spurious ground that it was
acting on directive from the Presidency to grant waiver to
some states.
He said, “But the commission cannot hide under a
Presidential waiver to recruit incompetent and unqualified
persons into the federal public service and impose them as
seniors on those with higher qualifications, experience and
competence. We have never had it so bad.
“One of the negative results of this ill-advised policy is that
directors, who have served the country meritoriously for
decades, cannot rise to the peak of their careers as all
manner of persons are recruited into the service to take over
top positions, including that of permanent secretaries and
general managers.”
The ASCSN secretary lamented that graduates with eight
years post-qualification experience were being drafted into
the public service on grade level 16 or 17 because they have
connections with top politicians.
“These illegal recruits are then made permanent secretaries
after about two or three years. This is very unfortunate as it
demoralises dedicated officers who no longer see any future
in the service. The ASCSN has engaged the FCSC on the
vexed issue and all indications point to the fact that the
recruitments were deliberately made,” Lawal stated.
He also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take
urgent steps to ensure that the FCSC abide by the public
service rules, establishments circulars, scheme of service,
and its guidelines on appointment, promotion and discipline in
respect of recruitment into the public service.
“If urgent step is not taken to reverse this trend of illegal
recruitment into the public service, the system may collapse
and the government will not be able to effect the type of
change it wants in the polity since the public service is the
engine room that oils the wheels of government.”
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