The federal government has no plans to sack any of its workers even in the face of daunting challenges occasioned by the current recession, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, said at the weekend.
She said government was currently getting rid of ghost workers on its payroll and seeking innovative ways to generate revenue in order to boost its ability to fund programmes instead of relying on yearly appropriations.
“Yes, there is an economic recession now but definitely retrenchment is out of it. The administration of President Buhari is a government that has human face. The solution is not throwing more people into the street. The solution is to look inward and see how we can provide a more efficient and cost effective way of carrying out government business,” she said.
Mrs Oyo-Ita said one of the strategic plans of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation in the 2016/2017 fiscal year is to create new channels that would enable Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to generate additional revenues rather than depending on annual budgetary allocations.
“That is why goal number three of the Office of the Head of Service 2016/17 Strategy Plan is the establishment of Enterprise Development and Commercialisation Orientation,” she said.
She said the goal has been misinterpreted to mean government would engage in buying and selling, stressing that government would identify mandates in the various MDAs that can generate some form of revenue and commercial activity to reduce dependence on government subventions or annual appropriations.
She said: “For example, in an office like the Head of Service, we are involved in a lot of capacity development activities especially our agencies. So, we are saying, why don’t we reach out and do more trainings for the public which can generate some revenue for government?”
Mrs Ono-Ita also told journalists that the Federal Ministry of Finance was working out modalities to clear the N293 billion salaries arrears and allowances being owed civil servants.
