FG begins sack of irregular personnel employed under Jonathan administration

The federal government has commenced weeding out some irregular recruits employed into the Federal Civil Service (FCS) through unauthorised appointments in the last few years. Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Mrs Joan Ayo, who made this known, said the ongoing staff audit by the commission, had revealed some irregular and unauthorised appointments, which, had been declared null and void

A statement by the Assistant Director, Press and Public Relations, Dr Joel Oruche, on Sunday, in Abuja, said Ayo disclosed this in a goodwill message at the 2016 Public Service Week, held in Abuja, recently. She said the staff auditing was aimed at fishing out irregular appointees and delisting them from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

The FCSC chairman said the action was necessary because the appointments were not properly backed by any vacancy from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) and, as such, were not budgeted for. Ayo added that the appointments were also in gross violation of the federal character principle.

She, however, said that declared vacancies from the OHCSF would soon be advertised. Ayo assured all qualified Nigerian youths who, prima facie, qualify that they would be given the opportunity to compete for the limited but available jobs; while selection would be strictly based on merit within the context of principle of federal character.

The chairman, who spoke extensively on the core values of the public service, stressed meritocracy as one of the public service core values had made it imperative for recruitment into civil service to be merit -based. This, she said, was subject to meeting certain standards such as prescribed minimum educational qualifications, satisfactory performance in the qualifying examination and (or) at interviews, among others, without prejudice to the principle of federal character. She said the FCSC would ensure that promotion and discipline were reviewed to meet the increasing demand of the time.