Ask for better salaries, pursue other incomes – HoS Folashade Yemi-Esan to civil servants

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, has addressed federal civil servants on how they can attract better salaries.

The federal civil service boss, in the Adamawa State capital of Yola, stated this at a programme on Wednesday, where she advised civil servants to exploit alternative sources of income.

Performing the official opening ceremony of a civil service clubhouse named after her, Dr Yemi-Esan urged civil servants to be active in pushing for their welfare, including higher salaries.

Speaking to civil servants at the ceremony on Wednesday afternoon in the Jimeta district of Yola, she said nothing should stop civil servants from expressing their needs through their respective unions.

Dr Yemi-Esan avowed that on her part, she had been pushing for better civil service pay, but her efforts need to be backed by those directly affected by a pay system that many silently complain about.

“You can go to the radio and talk, you can go to NTA and make your views known,” she told them, assuring that nobody would victimise them for choosing to pursue legitimate matters of welfare.

She said although she would not say that higher pay does not matter, civil servants could augment their regular pay by engaging in flexible private enterprises such as farming.

“Nowhere in the world do people rely solely on one source of income and be comfortable,” she said.

The Head of the Federal Civil Service who was in Yola for the 44th Meeting of the National Council on Establishments (NCE), had earlier announced, on Tuesday, that her office had developed a Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021 – 2025 (FCSSIP25) to succeed the old FCSSIP 2017-2020.

She explained that under the new plan, her office would continue to commit time, efforts and resources to accelerate training and retraining of staff, leadership management and succession planning and institutionalization of a performance management system, to, among other benefits, achieve better payroll.

She restated that the Federal Government is focusing on transforming the civil service to attain world-class status