The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, on Friday, June 29th, 2018 inaugurated a 15-man Technical Committee to fashion out Welfare Policy document for the Federal Civil Service that would address the challenges of uncoordinated approach to the management of welfare of employees across the Civil Service.
The Head of Civil Service noted that the issue of welfare goes beyond ‘take-home pay’ of the Civil Servants to include a whole range of issues that requires a system that will take care of the well-being of the employees beginning from entry into the service to exit and beyond.
She said this system is expected to guarantee the welfare of employees at every stage in their career and bring about all-round development of the workforce. This will result in improved health of employees, job satisfaction, improved industrial relations, and increase in general efficiency of the workforce and ultimately national economic development.
Mrs. Oyo-Ita said the policy framework is expected to ensure that all issues of welfare and well-being of Federal Government employees are fully developed and institutionalized in the Federal Civil Service.
Specifically, she said, the policy would ensure that the well-being of all employees become a primary concern of Government. It will guarantee consistent and continuous investment in the health and welfare of employees. It will enable Civil Servants to develop to their full potentials. It will make provision for basic employee welfare packages targeted at promoting harmonious working relationships carried out under controlled conditions. It will be organised in a consistent manner service-wide.
The policy would also promote the development of high moral among all employees by putting structures and processes which support employee’s welfare. A positive work atmosphere that encompasses a healthy balance between work and home/leisure activities will be instituted. MDAs will encourage and facilitate opportunity for employees to develop a sense of community and support for one another.
The committee has three months from the date of its inauguration to complete its assignment. The terms of reference include to develop the Federal Civil Service Welfare Policy Implementation Framework; to develop the Federal Civil Service Welfare Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Framework; to identify Laws, Rules, Guidelines and Extant Circulars that would be impacted by the policy and propose review where necessary; to project costs for the implementation and proposing funding options for the policy initiatives, and to develop a Communication Strategy for the Federal Civil Service Welfare policy.
The Members of the committee are drawn from the Office of the Head of the Federal Civil Service of the Federation, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ministry of Budget & National Planning, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Federal Ministry of Labour & Employment, National Institute of Science, Education and Research (NISER) and Chartered Institute of Personnel Management CIPM.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, said the formation of the committee is a milestone in the history of the Civil Service as a welfare policy before now was non-existent.
Akinwumi, Olufunke Taiwo
For: Director, Communications.
