Tinubu Gives Perm Secs, Directors, Ultimatum on Workers’ Benefits

President Bola Tinubu has given marching orders to senior civil servants for the accelerated payment of welfare packages to workers nationwide.

He warned that the bureaucracies undermining the expeditious payment of benefits would not be tolerated and directed that a monthly briefing by the Head of Service and submission of key performance indicator reports should be made to his office for review.

This also includes quarterly interactive meetings between the president and the body of permanent secretaries.

“Before the next meeting, I want to see progress in the civil service… Why are we slowing that down? It is not just shameful. It is unacceptable,” Tinubu said when he met the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the Body of Permanent Secretaries, and some Directors-General of agencies at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, revealed details of Thursday’s meeting in a statement titled, ‘President Tinubu directs expeditious processing of welfare benefits, demands monthly KPI reports.’

The President said policies impacting the welfare of the people and the economy must be treated with urgency, diligence, and a strong sense of duty.

He asked them to rededicate themselves to their duties and work towards improving the lives of Nigerians by acting with dispatch on matters that border on the welfare of citizens.

The President also warned that the ineffectiveness and unnecessary bureaucracy that result in the delay of interventions in the economy and programmes targeting vulnerable citizens will not be tolerated.

Consequently, he directed that a monthly briefing by the Head of Service and submission of key performance indicator reports be made to his office for review and that quarterly interactive meetings between the President and the Body of Permanent Secretaries now be scheduled.

Furthermore, the President mandated the Head of Service and the Body of Permanent Secretaries to consistently measure progress in actualising the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration.

“I have been sending people to check the level of work that gets done. Service to the nation is extremely important. We are to change the narrative on Nigeria.

“You and I can change the perception about Africa, not just Nigeria. We might not get it 100 per cent right, but if we are focused, I think we can totally change and reshape the trajectory of our country in the right direction,’’ he said.

President Tinubu asked public servants to always think and work with a generational understanding of their role in shaping national history, knowing that they serve as the engine room of the government and that their actions will affect more than 200 million people in the country and abroad.

He stated, “Let us make our children’s dreams come true. Why are we slowing that down?

“It is not just shameful. It is unacceptable. We made a pledge to bring our people out of poverty. You should not increase their vulnerability.

“Help Nigerians to get out of these problems, do not compound the tough situation with unacceptable delays.”

A presidential source who was privy to the discussions at the meeting told our correspondent that the president was dissatisfied with the performance of the senior civil servants, who, he said, were slowing down his agenda.

Citing the slow payment of the monthly wage award of N35,000 and the non-payment of the N500bn promised to businesses last October, Tinubu said he expects the service to do better.

The source said, “What he said was that the service is slowing down his agenda. He was very angry that his programme is being frustrated. He said that he expected the civil service to respond positively to the yearnings of over 220 million people, and it has a duty to give them hope.

“He was angry because, in October, the President made a lot of promises to Nigerians. One of them was that he was going to make some money available to businesses in terms of grants, aids and so on and provide about N500bn.

“But since then till now, nothing has been done. The President was not happy that the N35,000 wage award to civil servants was not paid until he started calling them. He called all the way from Ethiopia, asking ‘what is going on with this money I promised the people?’ Although it is a six-month award, they have only paid till December 2023. They promised to pay the rest later this week.

“The theme of what he said here is that he was just not happy with the service and he expects them to do better. He wants the service not to compound the poverty of the people.”

Before President Tinubu’s address, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, briefed him on the performance of the service concerning previously established KPIs across multiple assessment streams.