The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate promotion stagnation in the Federal Civil Service from 2013 to 2023.

The resolution followed a motion by Salman Idris, the deputy chairman of the House Committee on Agric Colleges and Institutions in Abuja.

He said that promotion remained the progression of civil servants as well
as a motivational incentive for productivity.

Mr Idris decried the incessant promotion stagnation across ministries, departments and agencies.

According to him, this had resulted in loss of service delivery, decline in highly specialized skills, low levels of productivity and performance, employee unrest, corruption, and dampened morale.

“The menace of promotion stagnation in the civil service calls for urgent attention and intervention of this hallowed chamber if the policies and programmes of government must be achieved,” the legislator stated.

He said that the civil service remained the government’s engine room and that it required holistic reform that could promote global best practices.

He added that promotions and recommendations as and when due were imperative and should not be overlooked.

Mr Idis said some civil servants who eventually get promoted and undergo mandatory examination as required by civil service rules were promoted notionally but not financially.

He added that MDAs often make provision for such recurrent expenditures in the yearly appropriation. He said that every promotion stagnation would affect the officer’s career.

He added that every civil servant was expected to rise to the pinnacle of their career within 35 years in active service or by the retirement age of 60.

The parliament ruled that the public sector and institutional reform committee should investigate promotion stagnation in the Federal Civil Service from 2013 to 2023.

It stated that this is to have a robust civil service at this critical stage of the nation’s development and report back in four weeks.

(NAN)