By the end of January 2023, the Borno State Government must start paying civil servants' backlogs of unpaid promotion arrears.
This information was made public by Governor Babagana Zulum yesterday at the Government House Maiduguri during the swearing-in ceremony of the Chairman and members of the reformed Borno state civil service commission.
Prime 9ja Online noted that the current administration had to take over the backlog that had begun in July 2016 with the introduction of Bio-Metric Data for Civil Servants.
Governor Zulum asserted that his administration would take all necessary steps to resolve any unresolved claims for unpaid Promotion benefits in order to uphold the rule of law.
First, to be sworn in by the state chief Judge, Justice Kashim Zannah at a ceremony presided over by Governor Babagana Umara was the reappointed chairman of the CSC, Dr Bulama Mali Gubio followed by the four Commissioners comprising commissioner I, Barrister Yakubu Bukar and Commissioner II, Zarami Dungus.
Others include; Commissioner III, Bulama Fugu and Justus Zare as Commissioner IV.
Governor Babagana Umara who congratulated the appointees expressed confidence in the Chairman and Commissioners of the reconstituted CSC whom he described as people of proven integrity and unquestionable character, capable of repositioning the state service.
“The Civil Service is the pillar of all sectors of the economy which a responsible government depends upon to carry out its policies and programmes effectively.
”I can’t succeed without having vibrant and competent civil servants who are patriotic and dedicated.
“Whether we like it or not, there are some people in the civil service who have been promoted without recourse to due process. How can a civil servant with a Diploma be promoted to the rank of a Director, How?” Zulum queried.
He maintained that civil service is the pillar upon which all developmental efforts of government depend, hence government will not allow the system to suffer.
“The major policy thrust of this administration is the full recovery and reconstruction which depend on the institutional capability of the public service and professional competency of the workforce, hence the training and retraining of the workforce,” Zulum said.
The Governor added that In the quest to reposition and reinvigorate the civil service in line with recovery efforts through the 25- year development framework and 10- year strategic initiative, the state government would initiate complete computerization of the commission’s record-keeping and retrieval system to enhance the function of the commission.
He stressed the need to reposition the civil service and further directed the compilation of a comprehensive nominal roll of the civil servants in the state and also ordered for compilation of vacancies in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs preparatory to conduct promotion examinations for eligible personnel to be held before the end of this year.
Head of Service, Barrister Simon Malgwi said the CSC and appointment of personnel to serve in the commission are constitutional requirements, hence the swearing-in of the chairman and the four commissioners.
Chairman of the CSC, Dr Bulama Mali Gubio expressed appreciation to the state government for finding them worthy of the task and pledged to live up to expectations, even as he further called on the civil servants to follow due process in their dealings with the commission, assuring that they are in safe hands.