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The Federal Government is indebted to retired federal civil servants to the tune of N293billion, but is at a crossroad of how to get resources to offset the debts, Head of Service to the Federation,
Winifred Oyo-Ita said on Monday.
The debts were mostly incurred through service wide staff claims,particularly those bothering on promotion arrears,1st 28 days,repatriation allowance,death benefits among others.
She said government was considering a phased payment formula,while the presidency has directed the Minister of Finance,Kemi Adeosun and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to explore ways of making the payments.
The Head of Service who was speaking at a press briefing in Abuja to commemorate the Civil Service Week said “payments would have been made but for the resource constraints of government. Efforts are at an advanced stage to priotize the patent process. We are working with the Office of the Accountant General on the phased payment formula and would be concluded in due course”.
She also disclosed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has commenced questioning of Civil Servants implicated in the uncovered ghost workers syndrome, in a bid to sanitize the civil service.
Some Civil Servants have already been taken in for questioning by the anti-graft commission in relation to the issue of ghost workers.
Fielding questions from journalists on different issues concerning the sanitisation of the civil service Oyo-Ita noted that this was the first time that government was patent strict attention to the issue of ghost workers and the introduction of the BVN also helped in exposing the lapses.
“This is the first time the administration is tackling the issue of ghost workers like this. We are cleaning the IPSS and a lot of suspicious names have been detected. The introduction of BVN has also helped in the detection of ghost workers. Many people are facing interrogation with the EFCC. You will just see them and later you wont find them again, they have not been kidnapped but they are answering different questions from EFCC,” she said in response to questions on sanctions for those involved .
The EFCC had in April this year uncovered about 37,395 ghost workers in the Federal Civil Service.
She assuaged fears that the Federal government plans to retrench some of its workforce owing to the economic realities on ground adding that the only focus was on the reduction of the number of Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs). “Restructuring does not equate to retrenchment” she said.
Also commenting on the issue of appointments of Permanent Secretaries, tenure extension and the effect of the tenure elongation policy she noted that it was at the prerogative of the President to appoint a permanent secretary as well as extend the tenure while the tenure elongation is still being reviewed. However, irregular appointments of those who did not get into the service through the right channel will be delisted.
Meanwhile, a comprehensive housing scheme for federal workers tagged Federal Civil Servants Housing Scheme (FISH) was launched earlier in the day.
Speaking at the Ground Breaking Ceremony at the Apo District Abuja, the President who was represented by the Minister of State Power, Works and Housing Mustapaha Baba Shehu said the government is targeting about 5000 housing units in all the states within three years.
Oyo-Ita noted that the FISH was meant to address the nagging issues of housing gaps especially various categories of civil servants as a means to uplift their moral, commitment, stewardship and quality of life during and after service.
The upper limit price for the low cost houses are N5m, N9m and N12m for one bedroom, two bedrooms and three bedrooms respectively. These prices can be lower depending on the level of infrastructure and site services FISH programme can provide.
Elizabeth Archibong
