New HoS sets 14-day limit for file treatment

The new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi, says he will set a 14-day timeline for the treatment of files. Kifasi siad this in an interview with State House journalists today after he was sworn in by President Goodluck Jonathan. He said while there would be incentives for workers who do well, […]

The new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi, says he will set a 14-day timeline for the treatment of files.

Kifasi siad this in an interview with State House journalists today after he was sworn in by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said while there would be incentives for workers who do well, those who fail to comply with the timeline would be appropriately reprimanded.

“I intend to set a limit of 14 days maximum. Any mail or document treated outside 14 days, such officers will be appropriately reprimanded and there will be incentives for those that do well and of course stick for those that don’t do well…Anywhere you play by the rule, people think you’re harsh or difficult, but that’s why we’re there to ensure that rules and regulations are complied with”, he said.

The new head of service debunked the claim that the system was already over-bloated, saying more civil servants were instead needed.

According to Kifasi, the most important thing is to retool the civil service and build workers’ capacity.

“There is a lot of work to be done in Nigeria. We need more people in Nigeria. What we need is to retool, to handle capacity issues of civil servants very well. We need people who are going to be highly skilled and motivated”, he said.

He said his vision for the civil service was a compact system well-managed, well-focused, committed, highly skilled and very innovative.

On how he intends to turn around the civil service, Kifasi said: “We’re going to set up structures that will give us feedback. For example, I personally will set up a call centre and a blog, a website and a twitter so that people who have complaints about their mails not being treated in good time can call or write to me directly so that they can have a response”.