Yobe State

  OFFICE OF THE HEAD OF CIVIL SERVICE, YOBE STATE

PREFACE
 Office of the Head of Service under the present dispensation is a statutory body established by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 Section 208(3). It is the highest policy making body for the operations of the civil service aimed at promoting good service delivery and food governance.
 The Office is saddled with the responsibilities of policy issues dealing with service matters in addition to personnel matters of the state. It may be recalled that publication of annual report by Government ministries/agencies under colonial administration was a compulsory requirement; but the practice declined considerably under military rule, since military government does not need to account its activities to the general public and the series of reform introduced by the military made no sense to continue.
With the advent of democracy which required every government department to account for its activities annually, the need to resuscitate annual report became imperative.
This median annual report on the activities of the Office of the Head of Service is commendable effort, since, it not only inculcate the idea of record keeping for posterity to see but also highlighted areas of achievements within period under review for all departments of government under the direct supervision of the Head of Service.
In view of the need to highlight our achievements, I hereby recommended that all ministries/agencies to produce annual reports.
                                                                                    ALHAJI DAUDA YAHAYA, mni
                                                                                               The Head of Service
                                                                                                      Yobe State
FUNCTIONS OF THE OFFICE OF HEAD OF SERVICE
 The office of the Head of Service is charged with the responsibility of better service delivery and good governance and performs other functions as follows:-

(a)   Provides leadership and direction to the civil service by monitoring high morale, esprede-corps and good image of the service and serving as the rallying point for the entire service.

(b)  Foster professionalism among civil Servants.

(c)  Advises the Executive Governor on appointments and deployment of Permanent Secretaries, General Managers and other key management staff.

(d)  Promotes good relations between commissioners and political office holders on the one hand and permanent secretaries and other civil servants on the other

(e)  Ensure career development of all management staff (i.e. G1.14 and above) including training schemes for such officers.

(f)   Managing |Establishments matters of the civil service, pension schemes and service welfare matters.

(g)  Coordinates industrial relation of the civil service.

(h)  Allocates office and residential accommodations to civil servants.

                         (i.)            Provides staff for newly established Ministries, Boards and ad-hoc bodies.

                       (ii.)            Determines staff salaries, wages and allowances of the civil service.

                    (iii.)            Provides management services for the civil services.

STRUCTURE
 The office of the Head of Service is divided into five(5) major Departments in order to carry out the aforementioned functions, The departments include:-

(a)  Public Service Office

(b)  Establishment matters

(c)  Manpower Development

(d)  Service welfare Office

(e)  Management services

 Each of these departments is headed by a Permanent secretary and functions like a Ministry.

OFFICE OF THE HEAD OF SERVICE YOBE STATE
 

PUBLIC SERVICE OFFICE
 The public service office has the following functions:-

(a)  Control and management careers of all pool officers such as Permanent Secretaries, General Managers and other key management staff.

(b)  Management of the career of all professional officers in the service.

(c)  Processing transfers and attending requests for appropriate staffing to Ministries, Boards and Parastatals,

(d)  Provision of staff to newly established Ministries, Boards, Parastatals and ad-hoc bodies.

(e)  Appointments, postings, promotions and discipline of all the pool officers of service management staff.

(f)   Co-ordinates other activities of Office of the Head of Service such as preparation of annual budgets/rolling plans, organizes meetings of Permanent Secretaries, Chief Executives of Boards and Parastatals and Directors, etc

(g)  Maintains personnel records of all staff in the service.

(h)  Updates and maintain records of staff that are approaching retirement of either reaching 35years of service of attaining 60 years of age.

ACTIVIES CARRIED OUT DURING THE YEAR UNDER REVIEW

1.     In its determined efforts to reposition the civil service, the Public Service Office embarked on massive re-organization and postings of key management and senior officers into various ministries, agencies and departments within the service.

2.     The present civilian administration under the able leadership of His Excellency Senator Mamman B. Ali realizing the enormous responsibilities and tasks before it, appointed 33 number permanent |Secretaries through  the Public Service Office Department, of the Office of the Head of Service so as to carry out developmental programmes and policies of the Mamman Ali led administration.

3.     During the year under review, the Public Service Office Department on the recommendation of the Office of the Head of Service Committee on promotion of officers form CL.15 to 16 processed 124 cases for promotions, forwarded to Civil Service Commission, These promotions were released to affected beneficiaries which has since been implemented.

4.     To boost the morale of the civil service, the Public Service Office through its secretariat, has prepared briefs for the promotion of officers from CL.15-16 is awaiting the Committee’s deliberations and recommendations to Civil Service Commission.

5.     283 Staff were appropriately posted to the newly established ministries and boards.

6.     At the inception of the present administration, staff audit exercise was conducted by the SSG’s office in collaboration with office of the Head of Service and the Ministry of Finance.

7.     The Public Service office department duly processed 8transfer of services in favor of various staff from many organizations to Civil Service Commission for ratification.

DEPT.OF ESTABLISHMENT MATTERS
 The department is responsible for:-

(a)  Establishment matters for the civil service including civil service reforms.

(b)  Interpretation of the Public Service Rules, Establishment Circulars, etc.

(c)  Providing Scheme of service for all cadres of personnel.

(d)  Grading and assessment of credentials for prospective employees in the service.

(e)  Dealing with matters relating to Unions.

(f)   Leaves and passages.

(g)  Serves as the Secretariat for National Council on Establishments (NCE).

Activities carried out during the year under review
 During the year under review, the Department executed the following:-

1. Introduced the (promotional) Civil service Examination.

2. Negotiated/implemented the 15% salary increase for civil servants in the state.

3. Implemented the Health and the veterinary (HATISS) salary table.

4. Attended he yearly National Council on Establishments meetings and that of the Negotiation Council during the year under review.

5. Cleared outstanding liabilities of Leave and Passages of the expatriate officers.

6. The department treated requests (financial) from NLC to HOS for delegate conferences and workshops.

7. The department settled inter and intra disputes.

8. Purchased of books for the purposes of Civil Service Exams just introduced the Yobe State Civil service.

9. Printed essential civil service documents e.g. APERS YB122, guide to office procedure etc.

10. 24 leave and passage cleared N13,000,000.

DEPARTMENT OF MANPOWER
 The department is responsible for:-

(a)  Processing applications for in-service training.

(b)  Organizing seminars and workshops.

(c)  Processing requests from ministries to attend annual National Council Meetings.

(d)  Giving professional advice on matters affecting training civil servants.

(e)  Liaison with institutions of higher learning especially Kaduna Polytechnic for the conduct of Civil Service Examinations.

(f)   Receiving and processing applications of staff that are recommended by Ministries, Boards and Parastatals to attend seminars/workshop organized by professional bodies like ASCON universities, etc.

(g)  Processing applications form Ministries, Boards and Parastatals to employ new staff.

(h)  Liaison with relevant organizations in he state to create vacancies and rationalize staff for effective management of available manpower.

(i)    Dealing with all matters affecting manpower development in the state.

(j)    Serves as Secretariat for manpower committee of the state.

Activities carried out during the year under review
 During the year Ear under review, the Department carried out the following functions:-

1. Attended two (2) National council meetings affecting manpower developments.

2. Many civil servants have been trained. The approval for the training was based on recommendations from ministries and other government organizations.

3. The present administration under the able leadership of Senator Mamman B.Ali made a deliberate policy of training every worker in the service of Yobe State. The former and the present Heads of Service, 31 Permanent Secretaries, the Accountant General, Director of Planning and Director Planning Research and statistics Ministry of integrated Rural Development have attended3 months’ training at TVU London (Slough Campus).

SERVICE WELFARE OFFICE
 This department has the responsibility of handling service welfare and pension matters, Its specific functions are summarized below:-

(a)  Allocation of office accommodation to Ministries, Boards, parastatals and other bodies.

(b)  Allocation of residential accommodation to civil servants and all other housing matters.

(c)  Maintenance of Government Buildings and provision of furniture/equipment.

(d)  Management of civil service pension in the state

(e)  Providing advice to government of pension policy.

(f)   Interpreting pensions’ rules and regulations.

(g)  Processing of Federal Share of Pensions and obtaining reimbursements form the Federal Government.

(h)  Processing requests for medical treatment within and outside the country and also obtaining medical advice on suitability of employee remaining in service.

(i)    Provision and maintenance of social and recreational facilities such as civil service club, sports clubs, staff canteen, clinics, etc.

(j)    Organizes end of year parties/celebrations, attend to issues of bereavement and civil service day celebrations.

(k)  Processing and managing loan schemes for civil servants.

(l)    Provision off office security.

(m)                        Provision of Telephone directorate to offices in the state.

ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT
 During the year under review, the Service welfare Office carried out the following functions:-

1. Provided 14 office accommodations to all newly established ministries and organizations.

2. The policy of the Government is to render assistance to civil servants to receive medical treatment within and outside the Medical Advisory Board (MAB), under the good leadership of His Excellency, Senator Mamman B. Ali, 16medical cases have been treated.

3. The management of pensions and gratuity has experienced a lot of changes and improvements. Pension is now paid along with salaries while gratuity is paid on first come first serve basis.

4. Just recently, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Yobe State, Sen. Mamman B.Ali because of his commitment to uplifting the life standard of the retirees, approved payment (fully paid) all outstanding gratuities up to June 2007 amounting to N206,000,000.

5. Regarding the implementation of the new pension scheme as approved by the National Assembly to take effect from 1^st July 2004, which requested all States to implement, the state Government set up a technical committee for the purpose. The committee is currently working towards the implementation of the scheme. However, a Bill for this purpose is already before the State of house of Assembly.

6. Already, prospective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAS) were invited and have attended the interview selection for the purpose by the technical committee.

OUTSTANDING TASKS
 The following are outstanding tasks and their accomplishment is necessary:-

1. There is the need to renovate the IBB Secretariat to give a face lift.

2. There is the need to provide adequate water supply to the IBB secretariat.

3. Access roads within the IBB secretariat complex including the newly constructed office complex need urgent rehabilitation.

4. With the current policy on rented office accommodation, there is the need by the government to construct more office blocks where needed urgently. Especially:-

   1. Civil Service Commission,

   2. State independent Electoral commission,

   3. Yobe State Assembly Service Commission,

   4. Local Government Service commission,

   5. Small Scale industries,

   6. Board of internal revenue,

   7. Local Government Pension Board,

   8. All zonal offices

MANAGEMENT SERVICES
 This department has the following functions:-

(a)  Carrying out continuous review of the organizational structure and operational modalities of the State Civil service.

(b)  Conduction management auditing of ministries/extra-ministerial departments in the state.

(c)  Conducting job evaluation, grading, compensation and job standard review and specification exercise in ministries/extra-ministerial departments.

(d)  Inspecting management services operations in the state ministries/extra-ministerial departments.

(e)  Provision of consultancy services in specialized fields like computer literacy, etc.

Activities carried out
 During the year under review, the department designed an organizational/operational structure to establish office of the Surveyor-General of the State in collaboration with the Ministry of Land and Survey.

CONCLUSION
 The Office of the Head of Service being the engine-room for the initiation and implementation of Government programmes as it affects the civil service, has during the period under-review embarked on wide range of activities through the five (5) coordinating departments which if properly encouraged and supported by Government will have the capacity to re-position and re-invigorate the service by making it focus and service oriented.