Kogi govt prioritises workers’ training, promotion

… as KGIRS conducts exams for 340 staff

Kogi State Government said it will continue to prioritise workers’ training and promotion to enhance their productivity to move the state forward.

The Special Adviser to Governor Ahmed Ododo on revenue generation, Dr Nasir Rahman Ichanyi, stated this at the premises of Kogi State Polytechnic during the promotion examination exercise organised by the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS) for its staff.

Ichanyi said training and promotion of workers in any organisation or governmental system has no alternative, noting that, as part of an effort to motivate workers, the state government will continue to ensure that workers are promoted as and when due.

“The KGIRS is an agency that generated revenue, which the state government is using for its developmental strides and for the Service to do more. The staff need to be motivated, and one of the motivational factors is the promotion because if a staff member is due for promotion and he or she is not promoted, such staff can not put in their best.

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“That is why the State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo is interested in this exercise and the Executive Chairman of the Service, Dr Salihu Sule Enehe, is also interested in seeing the staff being promoted whenever they are due for promotion,” he stated.

Speaking on the exercise, the Special Adviser expressed satisfaction with the arrangement and assured that there is always room for improvement, stressing that “there is no process that is 100 per cent perfect”.

“This exercise will enable the staff to do their best on the job because when you are promoted to another rank, it means more responsibility, which is good for the Service,” he added.

He urged the management of the KGIRS to always carry their staff along to enable them claim ownership of the Service for enhanced revenue generation.

In his remarks, the director of administration and ICT, KGIRS Alex Akande, disclosed that 340 staff of the Service sat for the promotion examination to qualify them for another rank in the organisation.

He described the exercise as one of the three stages involved in the Service’s promotion process, listing the stages to include: examination stage, oral stage and appraisal stage.

“The exercise today is the examination stage, which we are conducting for the eligible staff of the service. 340 staff members who are qualified and due for promotion are here for the examination exercise.

“The promotion will encourage the staff to put more effort into learning because on a yearly basis we conduct promotion examinations for those staff who are eligible,” he said.

Earlier, the consultant to KGIRS on promotion and training, Professor John Alabi, in his remarks, said the exercise is the promotion examination for four categories of staff, those who are managers, revenue officers, drivers and cameramen.

Alabi pointed out that the examination is to determine whether a staff member will move to the next level or not, saying as a manager, “if you spent two or three years on a particular level, you need to move higher in the job”.

KGIRS is a proactive organisation in the state that prioritises the welfare of its staff. We have been conducting promotional exercises for the service in the last five years without blemish. The one will also go the same way.

“There are three categories of grading: the filling of the Application for Personnel Action (APPA) form, written examination and oral interview. All of these carried their percentages,” Alabi explained.