Oyo-Ita tasks workers on innovation

THE Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita has called on the Federal Public Servants in the country to be continuously innovative for the service to be kept afloat in the increasing sophistication of the global society.

Oyo-Ita made the call in Abuja in her welcome address at the annual Public Lecture with the theme: “INNOVATION IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE: TOWARDS OVERCOMING HARSH ECONOMIC REALITIES”, organized by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation as part of the activities marking the 2016 Nigerian Civil Service Day Celebration.

She said that innovations could however be only achieved through sustained programmes to enrich knowledge.

The Head of Service said the Civil Service cannot afford to lag behind or continue to do things the old way, and that failing to follow the sophisticated changes in the global world, the Civil Service is bound to sink.

In his paper presented at the occasion, the Guest Lecturer who was a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Alhaji Isa Bello Sali said that the hash economic situation has been occasioned by a combination of factors and or series of unpleasant socio-economic events that have taken place in the world in last decade or so.

These according to him include “the US housing bubble and its resultant global financial crisis, the falling price of commodities on which most developing economies depend”.

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In Nigeria he said, “the situation was further compounded by unbridled corruption, profligacy and wastefulness, the rampages of insurgents in the North East, the MASSOB and more recently, the threat posed to the economy by Niger Delta militants’ blowing up of critical oil production infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, a retired Federal Permanent Secretary and one of the lead discussants at the lecture Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed called on the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Civil Service especially those on the senior cadre so as to address the current challenges of career progression in the service to improve service delivery.

In her goodwill message at the event, the Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, Deaconess Joan Ayo assured Federal Civil Servants in the country that the Federal Civil Service Commission will continue to ensure that promotion in the service is strictly based on merit, stating further that “In the current staff auditing at the Federal Civil Service Commission, all irregularities/unauthorized appointments are declared null and void.

Such appointees will be delisted from the Interpreted Personnel Pay roll Information System (IPPIS). This is because the appointments were not backed by any vacancy from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation; the appointments were not budgeted for and have grossly violated the principle of Federal Character.” Ayo said