The Nation Newspaper

Tag: civil service

  • Oyo-Ita tasks federal civil servants on higher productivity in 2018

    Oyo-Ita tasks federal civil servants on higher productivity in 2018

    Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, on Tuesday urged civil servants to consolidate the achievements recorded in 2017 by redoubling their efforts toward performing duties.

    Oyo-Ita, who made the call in Abuja while addressing some civil servants in her office after the New Year holiday, commended the civil servants for their commitment and perseverance in 2017.

    She said the Federal Government expected its civil servants to show more commitment and ensure higher productivity in 2018.

    “I am happy to come around this morning to see that quite a number of you are already in the office and this is what we want to see this year.

    “We want to see more commitment and dedication to work.

    “I must congratulate you civil servants that you stood with this administration through thick and thin even in the face of the fuel crisis that ended before the New Year,” she said.

    Read also: Kyari, Oyo-Ita reconcile

    Oyo-Ita said 2018 would be a good year for civil servants, adding that there were a lot of positive signs from the performance of civil servants in 2017.

    She commended President Muhammadu Buhari for keeping his promise of paying salaries and promotion arrears despite the challenges faced by the country in the previous year.

    “Also we were able to achieve the final resolution on the case involving some deputy directors who sat for promotion examination in 2014.

    “The matter has been favorably withdrawn from the court and the injunction has been lifted for deputy directors due for promotion.

    “The affected civil servants for 2015, 2016 and 2017 are to seat for their examinations in the next two weeks,” she added.

    About 400 Deputy Directors had in February petitioned the presidency over their stagnation in service.

    Some of the aggrieved workers went further to challenge their stagnation before the National Industrial Court, seeking redress.

    NAN

  • Obaseki launches ORACLE, digitalises civil service

    Obaseki launches ORACLE, digitalises civil service

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has launched the State Integrated Information Management System (SIFIMS) to enhance and actualise his administration’s vision of a repositioned electronically driven Civil Service in the state.
    Governor Obaseki, who flagged off the system at the Edo State Government House in Benin City, said the system was significant because it marked a new era, which was made possible by the courage of former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who paved its way.
    He continued that SIFIMS is a revolution and that it was a bold step for Edo State to launch a system of this nature, stressing the need to reposition the civil service because it was important to any nation that wanted to grow.
    “Nigeria worked because the civil Service worked. The civil service worked because there were processes and systems that made it work. This provided the platform for the successes recorded by the government, which were deliberately implemented and enforced,” he said.
    He called on the people to embrace the technology, saying that the government would make the process simple.
    He said, “SIFIMS is our first attempt to get government to work again more transparently and effectively. There is nothing new but only automating what should have been and updating the processes in the civil service”.
    Obaseki disclosed that his administration had completed the process of acquiring 1,000 units of computers and the first 300 were ready for deployment to make connectivity possible, as it would enable his administration run an e-government.
    He promised to complete the Block C section of the Secretariat this year and fence it round from the ministry of works in Sapele Road to the High Court Complex saying that his administration would provide wireless internet connection to offices to ease work in the Civil Service.
    Meanwhile, the Accountant General of Edo State, Mr. Isaac Ehiozuwa commended Obaseki for his commitment and determination to run and ensure transparent and effective governance through the system.
    He said all is set to run the system in the state as all those concerned have been fully trained and all financial transactions of the state would be done through the use of the computers.

  • Sanitising the civil service

    It is no longer news that federal civil servants are largey seen in many quarters as a set of rotten and corrupt  people. They are believed to be the brain behind, and facilitators of, most corrupt practices carried out by politicians in the country over the years. More than 70 per cent of the landed property in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for instance, are believed to be owned by the civil servants.

    Several moves in the past to sanitise the sector were not very successful as they were resisted underground. While the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has gone a long way to putting things in order in the system, many believe that there is more that can be done to make the Federal Civil Service a better place, towards effectively performing its statutory role.

    To this end, the Head of Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita has unveiled four cardinal objectives launched by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

    In a lecture titled “The Role of Civil Service in a Change Environment: The Change is now!” she said: “The country, due to a variety of factors, especially since the coming on board of the new government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has entered a new era. It is an era where much of the old ways of serving the Nigerian state and its citizens is undergoing a major review. Flowing from this, much of the structures and values of our national institutions are experiencing internally organized or externally directed reforms.

    “The challenge of socioeconomic and infrastructural development in Nigeria has become a matter that requires fresh ideas to tackle. Thus, the drive for the diversification of the economy has assumed a new urgency and the reality of the current situation is such that a renewed drive for enhanced revenue generation will greatly contribute to bridging the resource deficits for the finance of the national budget.

    “Due to an increasingly connected society, urbanization and sophistication of citizens leveraged by the new and fast-evolving ICTs and social media, public expectations of government has reached an all-time high.

    “The Federal Public Service needs to change its narrative when interacting with Nigerians who are demanding more accountability at all levels of government especially as regards the quality of public service delivery.

    “Trust in government by the people is enhanced by closing the widening gap with the citizenry, it is a fact that improvements in public services and delivery capabilities have direct effect on the living standards of citizens and the competitiveness of the private sector.

    “The deriving agenda therefore is efficiency, effectiveness and integrity in the delivery of services by public sector institutions for the good and progress of the country and services to its citizens.

    “The civil service is at the core of this reform and service expectations. The civil service, as a key national platform for actualization of the aspirations of the nation has over the years witnessed varieties of reforms to capture the mood of the moment, but more importantly to provide a more lasting trajectory for the progressive development of our country.

    “It has to be a dynamic institution striving to meet the reasons for its very existence. It is for these and many more others that we have taken up the task and responsibility to reposition the service.” she added

    To change the orientation in the service, she maintained that the envisaged new direction is captured in the 2017-2019 Strategy of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, which is anchored on four strategic goals.

    The strategy, she noted, is in consonance with Pillar Four of the National Strategy for Public Service Reforms which is focused on Civil Service Administration Reforms.

    Highlighting the four cardinal goals of her tenure towards a new roadmap for the service, she said: “The four goals are: Develop and Institutionalize an Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible and Citizen-Centered (EPIC) Culture in the Civil Service.

    The EPIC culture, she said, is an inevitable response to the challenges that the service face today and the perception of the service by the public.

    “This new culture is intended to restore hope and dignity to the service by reversing the current perceived reputation for inefficiency, low productivity, corruption and insensitivity to the needs of the citizen.” she said

    The second goal, she said, is designed and Implement an Enterprise Content Management System (ECM).

    She said “This goal will ignite a digital service delivery revolution in the management of our records and development of digital service strategy to facilitate online and real-time delivery of service to the citizenry. This will ensure full automation of records and civil service content such that systems are robust, up to date, and fit for purpose, thus eliminating duplications and harmonizing staff records across the service.

    “It shall provide structures, standards and processes on data capture, retention and use and eliminate multiple data repositories, especially manual processes. The upgrade of relevant systems to current standards will be achieved and integrate all systems across the service to achieve interoperability.

    “We shall achieve a status where content management policy is consistent with the ethos of the service and is strictly implemented across board by all stakeholders.”

    The third goal she said is Develop Entrepreneurial Culture and Commercial Orientation in the Civil Service.

    “The service must be a facilitating partner to the economy diversification drive of government. This goal is aimed at transforming the civil service from being perceived as cost centers to revenue earners.

    “Most Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have latent capacity to create wealth and generate revenue. The current dwindling government revenue calls for innovative ways of generating income.”

    The fourth goal, which she termed: Improve Welfare and Benefit Packages for Civil Servants, she said is seeking ways to improve the welfare and benefit packages for Civil Servants and the entire public service by extension.

    It is really hoped that the reforms will in the long run reposition the service to efficiently perform its roles to the nation.

     

  • Govt trains 1,500 in civil service

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has in the past three months trained 1,500 staff of various cadres from its Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs).

    FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye disclosed this at the closing ceremony of one of the training sessions at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, Dutse-Alhaji, Abuja.

    Ajakaiye said that the first of the one-week capacity training course was held between 5th and 9th December 2016 and the last session was rounded off at the weekend.

    Ajakiaye revealed that 600 staff were trained in Basic Computer Appreciation skills using Microsoft Office Tools to enhance their productivity, while the remaining 900 were trained on fundamentals of Public Service with focus on Procurement Act, Financial Regulations and Public Service Rules.

    He said that Civil Service remains the key driver of Nigeria’s development, and therefore, the personnel need to be well trained to meet the current global challenges in tune with the Change Agenda of the Federal Government.

    The Permanent Secretary said that in view of the crucial role Civil Service plays in the country’s march towards development, the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing everything possible to ensure rectitude in that sector.

    He said, “The Civil Service is the most important aspect of governance. In fact, Civil Service is the most strategic and essential ingredient as far as Nigeria’s development is concerned. This is why government is doing everything necessary with a view to ensuring that we get it right.”

    The Permanent Secretary charged officers to always adhere strictly to their assignments, in spite of whose ox is being gored; adding that for civil servants who insist on the doing the right thing, they have nothing to fear.

    He urged participants to contribute their quota in their various capacities for the progress of the country; stressing those civil servants should always consider their assignment as service to humanity and not opportunity to amass wealth.

    The Administrator of the Institute Dr. Shehu Misau commended the FCT Administration for giving top priority to building the capacity needs of its officers.

  • Corruption eroding gains in civil service, says Osinbajo

    Corruption eroding gains in civil service, says Osinbajo

    THE civil service has remained at its lowest ebb due to corruption in the system despite its modest gains, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday.
    He spoke at an inaugural quarterly civil service lecture series at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.
    It is themed: “Civil Service in a Change Environment: The Change is Now”.
    Osinbajo noted that the civil service, which had firmly stood against injustices and high-handedness that characterised the military era, suddenly came crashing when civil servants began to see their functions as means to achieving personal aggrandisement, rather than interest of the Nigerian state.
    He said: “It was the judiciary that told the military then that while it may make laws, those laws should still respect the inalienable rights of the people as enshrined in international human right conventions to which the country had voluntarily acceded.
    “These were individuals without guns, just sitting down on platforms up there in the court, who insisted on holding the military responsible.
    “Despite the criticisms that civil servants are subjected to, I am sure that you know that sometimes civil servants are described as ‘evil servants’ but you must take heart. The best professions are usually the most criticised. But I must say that the wholesome privilege of public service is very easily abused or taken for granted. The public service elite represents as we have seen the most important factor in mass development.
    “The power to do great good or evil lies with a few people, who form what we refer to as our civil service. When some in such an elite see the opportunity as one for self-enrichment by corrupt practices, then the nation faces a monumental tragedy.”
    Osinbajo added: “There is no excuses anywhere in a nation where the majority are still poor and are struggling to make a living that anyone who has the benefit of good education and good fortune of a job in the civil service should subvert that service for personal gains. I think it’s the greatest tragedy that a nation can experience.”
    Head of Civil Service of the Federation Winifred Oya-Ita took a swipe at the media and noted that it had been awash with shortcomings of the service while leaving out the modest gains in the system.
    According to her, the Federal Civil Service, in particular, has been in the forefront of national cohesion and has ensured smooth transition of power from one government to another – whether military or civilian administration.

  • Fed Govt takes civil service pensioners’ verification to Bayelsa, Rivers

    The Federal Government has announced the start of the next phase of the verification and biometric capture of civil service pensioners in the South South States of Rivers and Bayelsa.

    A statement by the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) in Abuja indicated that the verification exercise will take place in Port-Harcourt, to cover pensioners in Rivers State and in Yenagoa, to cover pensioners for Bayelsa on the 16th of this month.

    PTAD had earlier concluded verification of civil service pensioners from the North-West and South-East zones of the country in 2015.

    As a follow up, pensioners in the North East states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba were recently verified, between November 28 and December 6, 2016.

    The directorate said apart from identifying ghost pensioners and putting a stop to fraudulent payments, the exercise has facilitated the restoration of monthly pension payments to genuine pensioners previously removed from the payroll, including those who had never been paid any pension or gratuity.

    “4,438 pensioners verified in the North-west and South-East who were hitherto not receiving their pension, were payrolled in November, 2016 and their pension and arrears paid,” the statement said.

    The statement indicated that pensioners are expected to come along with the original and photocopies of their relevant retirement credentials for the upcoming exercise as will be published in national dailies and announced on television and radio stations.

    “PTAD is equally aware of the sick and infirm pensioners. They are advised to contact PTAD at the centres to enable the mobile verification team reach their homes/hospitals for biometrics,” the statement said.

  • Ambode tasks new permanent secretaries to add value to governance

    Ambode tasks new permanent secretaries to add value to governance

    The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday swore-in five new Permanent Secretaries into the State Civil Service, charging them to add value to governance with innovative ideas that would deepen the impact of his administration’s policies and programmes on the people.

    Governor Ambode who spoke at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Exco Chambers, Lagos House, Ikeja, admonished the new appointees to see their appointment as a call to duty with greater sense of commitment and high premium performance in the service of all Lagosians, irrespective of their status and creed.

    He said, “Given the top management positions which you have occupied in your different MDAs prior to this appointment, I have no doubt that you are sufficiently familiar with the vision and policy direction of this administration. You therefore have a responsibility to add value to governance with innovative ideas that will deepen the impact of government policies and programmes on the people.

    “I urge you not to rest on your oars. You must see this appointment as a challenge and a privilege for you to join the political leadership of your various agencies and other members of the distinguished Body of Permanent Secretaries to deliver to our people a Lagos that provides leadership with commitment to accountability, probity and transparency; geographical expansion where opportunities will be limitless under a secured environment”.

    He said the Permanent Secretaries were chosen based on their long years of veritable, excellent and untainted career records, which according to him, conforms with the essential requirements for the actualization of his administration’s vision and dream.

    “We have left no one in doubt about our strong belief in the capacity of the Public Servants of our State as the engine for the actualization of our vision and dream to transform our State to become Africa’s model megacity and preferred destination for investment and tourism. These appointments like others that we have done since we came into office, were not just meant  to fill vacant positions, but rather a process, well thought out to match vision with human capital.

     “As I rejoice with the new Permanent Secretaries on their appointment, I look forward to feeling the impact your elevation will have on the delivery of quality public service to our people,” Governor Ambode said.

    Earlier, the State Head of Service, Mrs. Olabowale Ademola, who presented the new appointees to the Governor, thanked him for recognizing exemplary performance and merit as core criteria for elevation into accountable posts in the state public service.

    The five new Permanent Secretaries are Mrs Florence Ebunoluwa Oluwasuji who is now the Permanent Secretary/Tutor General, Education District V; Dr. Shamsideen Olalekan Allison, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board (PHCB); Engr. Saliu Abidemi Adeyemi who takes over as the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment; Mr. Senayon Adeola Hundeyin, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and Mrs Yetunde Adefolahan Odejayi, Permanent Secretary, Deputy Governor’s Office.

    The ceremony which was attended by members of the State Executive Council, retired Permanent Secretaries and Directors also had family, friends and well wishers of the newly sworn in Permanent Secretaries in attendance.

  • Tenure policy and future of Nigeria’s civil service

    Recently, the news about the tenure policy in the federal civil service silently burst into the public sphere, and rather silently seems to have fizzled out like most significant issues that concern the progress of the Nigerian state. I however consider the issue one of rather immense significance, especially to the reform and transformation of the civil service in Nigeria, and so deserving of protracted debate and discussion that affects policy about how the civil service can perform and hence fulfil its mandate as a cornerstone of national development. My concern with this issue is, of course, not far-fetched. I have been a civil servant all my life; and my brief revolved around the reform of the civil service system in a way that backstopped Nigeria’s burgeoning democratic governance. For me, therefore, what is at issue is not the appropriateness of removing or retaining the tenure policy, but rather situating it within the overall well-being and performance capacity of the civil service.

    There are so many things that are wrong with the Nigerian state. And the civil service system is one of the focal point of the inability to transit into a developmental state with the capacity to empower its citizens in terms of a democratic service delivery that concretises democratic dividends. And the civil service system in Nigeria has been the focus of more than six decades of active reforms that targets almost every dimension of its operational modalities, from wages to staffing. Yet, these reforms have had ambivalent effect on the progress of the system. Let us cite one cogent instance. By the time the massive purge of the civil service by the Murtala/Obasanjo regime was completed in 1975, the system had been so eroded that civil service professionalism was effectively compromised, and the critical performance that would capacitate the system was effectively lost. It was therefore most appropriate that the Phillips Report, which undergirded the Civil Service Reform of 1988, would essentially be concerned with restoring and enhancing professionalism and performance. Unfortunately, this report politicised rather than professionalised the civil service elite corp. The wastage which ensued from this politicisation was the result of making permanent secretaries political appointees who mark time on a position for as long as the lifetime of the government which appointed them, and effectively ensured the erosion of cooperation and motivation.

    When the tenure policy was established under the Yar’Adua government, one positive purpose it served was as a check against systemic demotivation to career progression officers who have always been in the Federal Service. No one civil servant would have the opportunity of sitting at the helms of affair in a ministry until s/he attained to managerial level through rigorous pipelining and tested career progression. The reversal of this policy simply demonstrates the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which politics oftentimes trump policy and reform in Nigeria. I doubt if anyone would be able to seriously fault its significance as a plank in any effort to take the civil service, and especially its senior level cadre, to the next level in terms of productivity and performance.

    Let us put the discourse in a new light. The tenure policy is not a stand-alone administrative policy; it does not exist or cease to exist for its own sake. On the contrary, its effectiveness or lack of it, in global administrative best practices, it tied to its specific function in the performance record of the civil service. All across the globe, from USA and the UK to the Netherlands and France, the tenure policy issue goes beyond the career progression of the civil servants; it has often been tied to the urgency of achieving a result-oriented civil service that is lean, economical, effective and efficient. Countries which have confronted the tenure issue have done so, therefore, within the context of a larger smart practice which performance management imperative actualized through the deployment of numerous human resources toolkits like flexible employment policies and performance accountability systems that draw any civil service into the service mandate of producing tangible results.

    When Nigeria lost the golden opportunity presented by the Udoji Report of 1974, the Nigerian civil service system has been in a race against time to constitute the civil service into a policy implementation hub that efficiently delivers development outcomes through the effective circumvention of the policy execution trap which choke visions, development plans and policy outcomes. Since 1974, in other words, the civil service system has failed to achieve a shift from a system which manages input processes to one which supervises output outcomes. Mr. Oronsaye cannot be blamed for his valiant effort at laying the foundation of the tenure policy. The real issue is why successive heads of services have failed to deepen the administrative implications of that policy as a performance game changer which not only tenure civil servants but ask for price of the tenure in terms of accountability for results and outcomes within the context of rigorous and continuous annual assessment metrics. With the politicisation of the issue, and its eventual reversal, it becomes clear that we have on our hand a case of the system protecting its own top management in a manner that precludes accountability and results.

    The tenure policy must be placed within the larger issue of cost of governance and the overbloatedness of the civil service in Nigeria. The reality in the civil service today is not only the existence of many deadwoods and ghost workers who shoot up the overheads of the service. This reality is complicated by the fact that government pay through its nose for the outsourced services of policy consultants and analysts. There is also the obscene surplus of special/personal assistants and special advisers as well as the frameworks of over-reliance on technical assistance from development agencies. All these have become the unfortunate dynamics by which the civil service cope with its own deficiencies, compromised by skills deficits, nepotism, lack of any re-professionalisation programmes that bring the civil servants up to date on current administrative skills, and wrongheaded industrial actions.

    The civil service in Nigeria has a tough choice to make between remaining a lumbering bureaucratic contraption that circumvents Nigeria’s democratic governance and a lean, efficient and professional system girded around by values and procedures that compel performance and results. This is the dilemma that the adoption or reversal of the tenure policy places on us. While the objective of the civil service, according to the National Strategy for Public Service Reform (NSPSR) is fast moving, intelligent, professional, information-rich, flexible, adaptable and entrepreneurial world class civil service that is performance-focused, accountable and capable of creating the policy climate that will instigate a new productivity paradigm in the national economy, there are obviously many options that could take Nigeria to this objective. One of these numerous options is the concept of the Senior Executive Service (SES). This refers to a small, professional, non-political career civil service that would not only enjoy career protection, but would also enjoy a compensation package that serves as adequate incentive, especially in the face of private sector recruitment.

    But the task of the SES goes beyond being retained in the public service. Specifically, it constitutes the nucleus of reflective innovation, leadership core and skills repository of the civil service. It is around the SES that the reform of the civil service can be achieved. Those recruited into this top echelon will be distinguished by a different pay package which is inevitably tied to a performance contract scheme. Thus, the SES is more about administrative leadership, performance outcomes and accountability than about security of tenure. More significantly, the SES option ensures that the civil service system is constantly kept in check within the purview of the administrative requirements of the knowledge society and its reform imperatives. The Senior Executive Service becomes critical in its mandate to increase the intelligence quotient of the civil service at the strategic, tactical and operational levels.

    According to the French ecclesiastic, Cardinal de Retz, “Nothing indicates the soundness of a man’s judgment so much as knowing how to choose between two disadvantages.” The present administration is faced with the weight of public opinions on the rightness of removing the tenure policy or not. The way out, I submit, is to insert the retention of the tenure policy within a larger framework that not only allows the civil service to press its top management into performance management, but also gives the civil service system a firmer footing within the comprehensive change agenda of the government. Tenure by itself makes no sense except within the context of how it facilitates the performance of the system. Or fails to do so.

  • CIIN seeks recognition for its certificates in civil service

    The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) is collaborating with the Head of Service (HoS) to gazette the institute’s  qualifications for employment in the civil service, CIIN President, Lady Isioma Chukwuma, has said.

    She spoke at a briefing in Lagos on her achievements since she assumed office about 11 months ago.

    Lady Chukwuma said her team, which has “Consolidating the gains of the industry for national economic growth’’,  as a mission statement, has put place the CIIN on the global scene, adding that it achieved more in the presentation and distribution of its insurance textbook to senior secondary schools and sustained the ideals of the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC), especially the joint industry mega conference, reinforced the huge potential of the college of insurance and financial management, renewed pursuit of training insurance teachers on a national level and completed the institute’s examinations syllabus review.

    She said: “Discussions are at an advanced stage with the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation for the gazetting of the institute’s professional qualifications for employment in the Civil Service. This process, when completed would become an added advantage to holders of the institute’s certificate seeking employment into any government institution across the various levels and tiers of government.

    “The institute is especially committed to and is exploring every means possible at situating the CIIN brand on the global stage. We are  fine-tuning our exemptions relationships with CII (UK). We have consolidated the off-shore examination centres of the institute in Banjul, the Gambia and in Kigali, Rwanda and pursuing with vigour the extension of the frontiers of our professional examinations to the West African sub-region and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

    “Following the selfless efforts of my predecessors in ensuring setting in motion the effective take-off of academic activities in the College of Insurance and Financial Management, I can confirm to you that Academic activities have since commenced at the college following its  commissioning. The graduation of the first set of Diploma Students of the College of Insurance and Financial Management (CIFM) was held in December 2015 and the induction  for the second set of Diploma Students was held on February 2016.”

    She said following the presentation of the textbook to secondary schools in Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Ondo and Kwara states, the institute, in the past year, has been able to donate copies to all public senior secondary schools in Rivers, Imo, Osun, Ekiti and Enugu States through their various Ministries of Education.

    “In all, over 3,000 copies of the book have been donated to further enhance the teaching and study of insurance as a subject in secondary schools in Nigeria. We are working with some identified states through the institute’s local chapters to facilitate the donation of the books to such states while the proposed launch/presentation of the book at the national level will also be pursued to its logical conclusion.

    “The Train-the-Trainer programme which was designed for the upscaling of insurance education to ensure that insurance teachers possess the required skills for imparting the necessary knowledge to the future generation of insurance practitioners has been well received and many states have shown enthusiasm in partnering with the institute and the college in this regard.

    “The programme was first carried out in Lagos and Ogun states and has since been replicated in other parts of the country. We are presently engaging some states we have visited to fashion out modalities to host the programme in such states.

    “The institute has also aided in the study and teaching of insurance by providing support to institutions across the country through donation of course books, equipping libraries with study materials and equipment and also by imploring insurance professionals to volunteer as teachers and lecturers in Institutions so as to cover for the dearth of Insurance teachers and lecturers in our Institutions,” she added.

  • Nasarawa Govt. to employ more physically-challenged into civil service

    Nasarawa Govt. to employ more physically-challenged into civil service

     

    The Nasarawa State Government has planned to employ more persons living with disability into the state civil service in order ameliorate their condition.

     

    The Commissioner for Special Education, Science and Technology, Mr Idris Mohammed, made the disclosure on Thursday in Lafia, while receiving state officials of the Joint Association of Persons with Disability (JAPED).

     

    Mohammed said that the ministry had commenced the compilation of applications received from members of JAPED to engage them into the civil service.

     

    “The state governor had also approved the registration of members of this association into technical colleges across the state to enable them have Western education and be trained in one skills or the other.

     

    “During the celebration of the last International Day for People Living With Disability, the governor promised to improve the living conditions of the disabled,’’ he said.

     

    The commissioner assured the physically-challenged that the state government would soon provide the association with a befitting office accommodation and a vehicle to ease their operation.

     

    Earlier, the Nasarawa State Chairman of the association, Mr Innocent Ladan, said the visit was meant to introduce new officials of the association to the commissioner and to pledge their support for the state government.

     

    Ladan said that the state government should urgently do something to take members begging, off the street by considering those with Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), Diploma, NCE, Degree and Masters degree for employment.

     

    He commended the state governor for always coming to the aid of the association.