Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, has announced that civil servants holding Higher National Diplomas (HND) must undergo a one-year mandatory training program before being converted from the Executive to Officers cadre.
This announcement was made during a virtual interactive session with civil servants in celebration of the 2024 Civil Service Week. The theme for the week was “Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased Access to Inclusive, Life-long, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa.”
The training program aims to bridge the educational gap between polytechnic-awarded Higher National Diplomas and university degrees, a matter of contention between the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
Despite a bill passed by the Ninth National Assembly in 2021 to eliminate this dichotomy, it was not signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari. Consequently, the NBTE introduced a one-year top-up program allowing HND holders to level up towards obtaining a bachelor’s degree.
Addressing a question from civil servant Adebayo Hassan, who inquired about the dichotomy between B.Sc and HND holders and the government’s efforts to bridge this gap, Yemi-Esan explained that the curricula for HND and B.Sc holders are not the same.
Hence, HND graduates must undergo the mandatory one-year training before their conversion from the Executive to Officers cadre.
Discussing the theme of the 2024 Civil Service Week, Yemi-Esan highlighted the importance of accessible, inclusive, high-quality education that remains relevant to the evolving demands of the modern world.
She emphasized that the Nigerian Civil Service is leveraging learning and development to enhance the workforce’s capacity and capability to meet national priorities.
Yemi-Esan also mentioned the implementation of a Performance Management System (PMS) in response to the rapidly changing work environment and the need for greater efficiency.
PMS Policy and Guidelines have been developed and disseminated to all Ministries, extra-ministerial Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). Core implementation teams have been established, with Permanent Secretaries serving as the primary drivers.
Performance contracts under the PMS will be cascaded down to the last officer in each MDA. The new system will assess each officer’s performance based on their respective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), enabling the tracking of job objectives across all MDAs.
This alignment ensures that each officer’s goals are linked to their department’s objectives, the respective Ministry’s goals, and the national KPIs.
Furthermore, Yemi-Esan noted the digitalization of work processes within the Civil Service as a key aspect of its ongoing transformation.
The Office has fully digitalized all personal and policy files and is implementing digital transaction workflows. Official correspondences, including memos and internal and external circulars, are now processed electronically through the Enterprise Content Management solution.
