TWO weeks after The ICIR exposed some top civil servants who ignored their deployment by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), the Head of Service, Folasade Yemi-Esan, has launched a probe into the disobedience.
Read the report: Top civil servants ‘flout’ Head of Service deployment directives six weeks after
In a letter sighted by The ICIR, with reference number HCSF/SDO/CSI/122/1, dated Monday, July 22, and with the title,” Compliance Monitoring of Posting Instructions of Officers on SGL 07-17 Under The Pool of The Office of The Head of The Civil Service of The Federation.” the HSCF said by her mandate, she had scheduled a compliance monitoring exercise for all MDAs in respect of the posting instructions released by the OHCSF on May 7, 2024.
The letter from the Civil Service Inspectorate Department (CSID) of the office of the Head of Service was addressed to the Directors of Human Resources Management across the federal government’s ministries.
The letter partly reads, “You are invited to note that the exercise is part of efforts of OHCSF in ensuring discipline and strict adherence to instructions by officers in line with the ethos of the civil service as encapsulated in FCSSIP25
“Accordingly, I am further directed to inform you that the exercise is scheduled to hold from July 29 to August 9, 2024.”
According to the circular, the Human Resources Management departments in the ministries are to make available to the investigative team all relevant documents that will aid the success of the exercise.
The letter was signed by the Deputy Director, CSI Adenike Iwajomo, on behalf of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
A reliable source within the Ministry of Art, Creative Economy and Tourism who confirmed the development to The ICIR said that the constant flouting of directives in the civil service was due to the ongoing 2024 procurement exercise.
“They are always disobeying lawful orders because some PS (Permanent Secretaries) and top civil servants always want to take part in the procurement activities which are filled with fraudulent exercises,” the source said.
Recall that The ICIR in a report on July 8 revealed that more than six weeks after a circular from the office of the HCSF directed some senior servants to move to new ministries, two top civil servants in charge of procurement refused to move to their new places of deployment.
The circular signed by the permanent secretary, career management, Adeleye Adeoye, stated that the posting was with immediate effect and instructed all the deployed officers to be accepted and documented by the respective ministries.
It warned that the office of the HCSF would not condone the rejection of officers.
According to the circular, all handover and taking-over processes must be completed on or before Thursday, May 16, 2024.
However, findings by The ICIR showed that despite the strict instruction on the deadline of May 22 for the resumption of the deployed officers, some affected civil servants refused to move to their new postings.
The two deputy directors (DD) of procurement affected were Ukpong Kufre Joseph of the Ministry of Art, Creative Economy and Tourism and Momodu Jenifer Jeminetu of the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
In another report in August 2023, The ICIR reported that before the Information Ministry was split, the HCSF directed that all directors who had spent eight years or above should proceed on retirement in line with the revised Public Service Rules (PSR).
The directive was issued in a memo dated July 27 by the office of the HCSF, Yemi–Esan.
But despite this directive, most of the affected directors in the ministry disobeyed until The ICIR exposed their disobedience which led to their compulsory retirement.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance