The Federal Government is set to cease the salaries of public officers whose information cannot be confirmed on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) starting this Friday.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, made this announcement in a statement that was released on Wednesday, as confirmed by her Director of Communications, Mohammed Ahmed, in a press briefing.
As mentioned in the statement, a two-week verification process, concluding on Friday, October 27, 2023, was introduced as a benevolent measure for officers who had not participated in the earlier verifications.
‘Adequate arrangements were put in place for a smooth exercise in designated areas of the FCT, however, the officers’ impatience and lack of orderliness in the first two days made the exercise rowdy. This has been duly addressed and the two-week exercise, scheduled to end on Friday, October 27, 2023, is progressing very well.’
‘The verification of records of all civil servants will be finalised at the end of the ongoing exercise and any officer whose record could not be verified will be delisted from the payroll of government,’ the statement read.
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The statement pointed out that in 2013, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, which serves as the central depository for official records and information on all public servants, was given the responsibility of purifying the records on the payroll.
By harnessing technology, the statement indicated that the office unveiled a verification portal in April 2017, instructing all public servants to complete online updates of their records.
In addition, the office executed an aggressive awareness and publicity campaign through official, traditional, and social media, as mentioned in the statement. It further mentioned that the initial three-month compliance period was prolonged to one year, until May 2018, enabling all officers to update their records.
The statement added, ‘Sequel to another wide publicity accompanied by numerous pre-verification sensitisation visits by IPPIS staff to Ministries, extra-ministerial Departments, and Agencies nationwide, the second phase of the exercise, the physical verification, commenced in 2018.’
‘In this regard, 500 staff from the OHCSF were trained and deployed, in well-communicated and coordinated phases, to the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT between 2018 and 2019 to enable officers to carry out the physical verification in their states and save them to from travelling to Abuja.’
The statement reiterated that the appeals of certain non-compliant officers for one last chance to comply were approved. Subsequently, the portal was reopened from October 3-13, 2023, to enable them to update their records. The deadline for record updates has now been extended to Friday, October 27, 2023, following which action will be taken against defaulters.