Civil Service Reform: FG presents medals, Samsung Galaxy tabs to outstanding Staff

Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo on Wednesday presented medals and Samsung Galaxy Tablets to outstanding Staff of the Ministry in recognition of their performance during the just concluded Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025 (FCSSIP 25) open competition.

Dr. Sani-Gwarzo who spoke in Abuja during the decoration of the LEAD-P Officers, also presented Samsung Galaxy Tabs to the winners of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021 -2025 (FCSSIP 25) open competition and medals to successful Athletes.

As part of efforts aimed at boosting the morale of the Athletes, Dr. Sani-Gwarzo commissioned the Ministry’s Sport’s Club kits.

While congratulating the Awardees, Dr. Sani-Gwarzo explained that the “Open Competition on FCSSIP25 is anchored on pillars one and six which is Capacity Building, Talent Management and Value Proposition to Civil Servants (Staff Welfare).

“It is an innovative competition which is aimed at creating more awareness on FCSSIP25, and I am happy that this competition which is the first of its kind is taken place in our Ministry.

“It is my desire to ensure that this competition will be a regular affair in the Ministry so as to sustain the awareness of the FCSSIP25 which is the major reform that is ongoing in the Federal Civil Service.”

Speaking earlier, Director, Reforms Coordination & Service Improvement, Mr. Valentine Ezulu affirmed that the ongoing Civil Service reforms were geared toward ensuring effective service delivery.

He said: “You will recall that the Federal Civil Service is currently undergoing several reforms that will make the service more effective.

“These reforms are aimed at repositioning the Civil Service into one of the best public institutions for better service delivery across all sectors globally.

“It is against this backdrop that the Permanent Secretary in the meeting held with LEAD P Officers posted to the Ministry on Monday, 13th March, 2023 directed that there should be an open competition for all staff of the Ministry and its agencies on the memorization of the six pillars of FCSSIP25 and its enablers.

“He also stated that this competition will begin from the headquarters before it is cascaded to all the agencies under the Ministry.

“Further to this directive, the Department have successfully organized the competition on Friday 16th, June 2023 and was supervised by judges from the Office of the Head of the Civil of the Federation and had been marked and successful candidates have been selected.

“Only 26 staff of the Ministry participated in the competition from 10 Departments/Units in the Ministry which includes, Human Resource Management, Reforms Coordination & Service Improvement (RC&SI), Social Development, Finance & Accounts, PRS, Humanitarian Affairs, General Services, Legal Unit, Internal Audit (IA) and Stock Verification Unit (SVU).

“No nomination came from the Honourable Minister’s Office, Permanent Secretary’s Office, Special Needs Department, Finance & Accounts (NSIP), Procurement Department, Internal Audit (NSIP), Press Unit and Federal Audit in spite of the three Office Notices that was sent at different intervals to all Departments and Units to send nomination for the competition.

“In line with one of the Core Values of the Civil Service which is meritocracy, the Judges decided that winners should emerge based on it. Hence, the five participants from Humanitarian Affairs Department were successful with two of them scoring 19/20.

“Also the two participants from PRS and SVU were successful.

“Two participants from Social Development passed the cut off. Out of the five participants from RC&SI Department, three were successful with two of them scoring 20/20 being the highest in the competition. HRM had one participant that passed. F&A and IA had one participant each and both passed bringing the total number of winners to seventeen.

“May I use this medium to thank the Permanent Secretary for this gesture and the support he gave the Department to ensure that this competition was carried out just within the space of three months.

“I therefore urge Departments/Units that had no showing in the competition to understand that reforms in the civil service has come to stay and as such all hands should be deck to ensure that the Ministry is above board among all MDAs.

“It is also pertinent to note that this competition will be sustained using different approaches, however, subject to availability of funds,” Mr. Ezulu noted.