The Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is demonstrating its effectiveness, as evidenced by the promotion of 53,000 personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Federal Fire Service, and Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) over the past two years.
Minister of Interior Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo made this announcement on Thursday, September 26, emphasising that the days of “who you know” for promotions or employment are over.
He stated that the Renewed Hope Agenda has eliminated opportunities for job racketeering and lobbying for advancement.
“What we met on the ground here is that for 10 years some people were stagnated, no promotion. Promotions were done based on how much you can give or who you know. The same thing with recruitment into the Services.
“But I can tell you proudly that President Tinubu approved the promotion of 32,000 officers and men of the four para-military Services in 2023 and 2024, he has approved the promotion of 21,000 personnel. That’s the essence of the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He said the agenda of the President was anchored on providing a level playing ground for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, class, and religion, emphasising that job racketeering had no place under the present administration.
“Let me be frank with you, you may not be happy with what I am going to say, but the truth is that this government has zero tolerance for job racketeering. I don’t have job slots as a Minister.
“And if you come to me for such, you will be disappointed. What we are doing is to provide an equal platform for all Nigerians to secure jobs wherever they are available without lobbying or paying for it,” the Minister further said.
Tunji-Ojo made the remarks while responding to questions on provisions of job slots and general welfare issues for Civil Servants at a Town Hall Meeting and Award Ceremony organised by the Joint Staff Union of the Ministry of Interior under the leadership of Comrade Ukpenetus Bassey.
He said part of the performance contracts he signed under President Tinubu was to lead by example, and urged workers in the Ministry to re-dedicate themselves to the Service of the country. He said he had to forfeit foreign trips and used the accumulated Internally Generated Revenues in the Ministry to purchase buses for workers as part of welfare services for them.
He commended them for their support and efficient delivery of quality services in all departments and agencies under the Ministry, saying he would not have achieved much without the workers.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Magdalene Ajani said the government has taken note of the shrinking staff strength in the Civil Service as a result of the embargo on employment and ongoing reforms.
She said most Ministries need junior cadre officers from grade levels 07 and 09, but she appealed to the Unions to understand the situation in the country as the Federal Civil Service Commission, the Office of the Head of Service and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation are on top of the matter.
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She described as apt the timing of the Town Hall Meeting, saying that it would create avenues for all of them to share views on the vision and mandate given to the Minister by Mr President and see how far they have contributed to the development of the country.
The Chairman of the Joint Union, Comrade Bassey said the Union decided to honour the Minister with a merit award for his outstanding contributions within the past year, saying the Minister had raised the bar of selfless Service and leadership by example in the Ministry.
He praised the Minister for the ongoing reforms in the Nigeria Immigration Service which led to the clearing of over 200,000 backlogs of Passports, the installation of electronic gates at Airports, the construction of the Command and Control Centre at Immigration headquarters and the raising of over 500 million naira to secure freedom for over 1,000 inmates in the Correctional facilities across the country.