President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime says it will no longer be business as usual for unproductive and incompetent civil servants as it threatens to punish errant workers.

Junior labour minister Festus Keyamo disclosed this at the ‘2022 Ministerial Service Award for Labour Sector’ on Thursday.

The award was organised to mark the ‘2022 Africa Day for Civil Service’ and also in recognition of outstanding performances of civil servants in the labour ministry and agencies under its supervision.

Mr Keyamo said it was heart-warming that the ministry was recognising the outstanding performances of workers who worked tirelessly to help it achieve its mandate in 2022.

“This is an opportunity to inform you all that enhanced performances for productivity must be encouraged, and so this platform is to celebrate and recognise excellence in service delivery by some carefully selected officers of the ministry,” the minister explained.

He added, “With the performance Management process in place, it will not be business as usual for unproductive civil servants. There are sanctions for incompetence.”

Mr Keyamo stressed that the labour ministry would provide the enabling environment for competitive performance in rendering quality services.

“Thereby,” he noted, “staff aspiring to put in their best in the discharge of their duties will be encouraged.”

The junior labour minister further stated, “Quite a number of these staff have been able to discharge their duties under unfriendly and challenging environment, yet these officers demonstrated zeal and passion in attending to their schedules.”

He commended the courage and bravery displayed by some civil servants and pointed out that “these officers are what had recommended them for these awards that would be conferred on them today.”

Mr Keyamo further mentioned that the different categories of awardees were drawn from different departments and agencies of the ministry, ranging through different grade levels.

(NAN)