FG’s long embargo on employment raises concerns, queries

…Citizens allege job racketeering in corridors of power

For over six years now, there has been a blanket ‘embargo’ on employment imposed on the Federal Civil Service by the government, with no sign of lifting soon.

In March 2020, the government, under Muhammadu Buhari, former president, placed the embargo, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and a failing economy.

Buttressing the rationale for the embargo, in 2021, Chris Ngige, the then Minister of Labour, explained that the embargo was due to paucity of funds caused by the economy, which was in a bad shape then.

Then, he also pointed the unemployed to government’s home support programmes like the conditional cash transfer and others, and insisted that such money was meant for the poor in the society.

But several criticisms trailed Ngige’s comments as many told him that the unemployed needs work to sustain livelihood and not one-off cash transfer from the government.

Since then, there have been repeated calls from policy experts and concerned citizens for the lifting of the ban entirely to stimulate employment, but the calls largely remain enforced even by the Bola Tinubu-led government.

Displeased with the situation, Francis Waive, member, House of Representative (APC, Delta State), recently moved a motion for the federal government to rescind its ban on employment in the federal civil service.

He argued that several years of unemployment have created shortage of manpower in the federal civil service, especially in the junior and middle-level cadres as officers are promoted and some retire and others die.

To resolve the shortage issue, Waive decried that, “Some agencies have resorted to engaging casual staff who are paid from their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and other sources.”

Also calling for the need to rescind the embargo, Tuni Olaopa, chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, recently appealed to the federal government to lift the blanket employment embargo, decrying that the long embargo has made the service to lose the value of using employment as a tool for recruiting the service.

He further argued that long-standing hiring freezes have turned employment from a strategic governance tool into a bottleneck that pushes talent away and weakens institutional capacity.

Fearing that the federal civil service is already losing trained hands to the private sector and the diaspora, he suggested that the government should lift the embargo in order to restore its status as an employer of choice through fresh thinking and innovation in employment policy.

Adding to the calls for the lifting of the embargo, Joyce Evoka, a consultant with UNICEF Enugu field office, cited the rising unemployment rate as a major reason for the government to rescind the ban.

“We all live here and are witnessing the rising criminality and desperation among young Nigerians. If that does not make sense, then the present hardship in the country does and should be a wake-up call for the government at all levels.

“If you can curb the rising unemployment, you can check insecurity,” she insisted.

Following the embargo on recruitment into the civil service in 2020, Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33 percent in 2021, the second highest on global list then.

Also, according to the first quarter of 2023 (Q1, 2023) data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), rising unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, while youth unemployment was 6. 9 percent. Though the government has been making efforts to ensure decline, the rates are still high as high institutions churn out graduates yearly with little or no jobs available for them, while the embargo on employment worsens the situation.

Rationale for the lifting

Out of Nigeria’s estimated working-age population of over 116 million, only about 7.3 percent work in the formal sector, and the federal and state civil servants account for approximately 1.5 to 2 million public sector workers nationwide.

Based on the above, Yakubu Ankali, an economist, argued that it means civil servants make up less than 1 percent of Nigeria’s total population, despite having more dependents.

“If we go by the six years ban on employment, I think the federal civil service lacks capacity at present and needs more hands,” he said.

According to figures from the Bureau of Public Service Reforms and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), Nigeria has an estimated 720,000 public servants at the federal.

Going by the above figure, Onyewuchi Akagbule, a senior university lecturer, insisted that the nation’s federal civil service lacks manpower to meet today’s work demand.

“If you divide over 116 million working-age population of Nigeria by the 720,000 public servants at the federal, you will be shocked by the shortfall. Again, spread the 720,000 public servants across the many ministries, MDA’s and agencies, you will also see the need for more ‘competent’ hands,” he said.

“We are not saying that the government should employ everyone, but it can restructure the federal civil service to enable the employment of more competent hands at the federal level”.

Selective waivers

While the embargo largely restricts general hiring in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), selective recruitments are frequently permitted in critical sectors like healthcare, security, and specific specialized vacancies.

The waiver, according to many, is the issue and reason to lift the entire embargo.

“There are certain critical agencies, which are regularly granted waivers by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,” a senior civil servant, who pleaded for anonymity, explained.

“The waiver empowers them to hire replacement workers, and to expand workforce capacity in essential roles. Today’s digitalized world makes such hirings necessary”.

According to the source, the ban does not affect recruitments in defence, security systems, healthcare and some critical areas because of their highly sensitive, urgency and demanding attention.

But Samul Pam, a recently retired assistant director in the federal civil service, decried that the selective waiver has severally been abused as top government functionaries and politicians used it to offer jobs to their relatives and associates, even in non-critical areas.

“In my last three years in the service, I witnessed new faces, both young and not too young, in our ministry, which is not a critical one. The faces are new employees authorized by the same system that placed ban on employment,” Pam lamented.

He noted that children of many senior government workers are often used to replace their parents when they retire or die in office.

“I cannot really say there is an embargo when people are being employed, though through back door”.

Omale Ochefu, a Lagos banker, confessed partaking in a sendoff party for a staff member who joined a federal ministry in 2024, despite the acclaimed embargo.

“He always complained of being far from his family in Suleja and luckily his cousin fixed him on federal job in Abuja. So, there are jobs, but your contact makes the difference, even in the private sector,” Ochefu said.

Alleged over-bloated service

According to Akagbule, the federal civil service is not over bloated, just that the system allows fraud that has been draining public funds over the years with little checks and less precautions.

“If the government has adopted and implemented the Oronsaye Report, nobody will be talking about ghost workers, people earning double salaries or dead staff members still receiving salaries”.

The financial pressure the unaccounted workers placed on the government, according to Akagbule, are among the reasons the government is not considering the rescind of the embargo on employment.

In 2022, Dasuki Arabi, director-general, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), revealed that through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), and the introduction of the Treasury Single Account, about 70,000 ghost workers were eliminated from the payroll system, with N10 trillion saved through TSA administration of funds.

Arabi also disclosed that the bureau reduced more than N220 billion wastage through wrong management of IPPIS on payroll by ministries departments and agencies of government.

While commending the reduction, Akagbule said that the savings can pay salaries of many qualified hands in the job market to boost efficiencies in the federal civil service.

“If you consider the huge allocations being shared among the three tiers of government today, the government cannot say the embargo is still on due to paucity of funds. It should lift the embargo to help many out of their sufferings”.

Job racketeering

Many are calling for the embargo to be lifted because of the perceived job racketeering in the federal civil service, as many still get job offers and appointment letters in non-critical areas.

“We cannot say there is no job racketeering because many who are looking for jobs are ready to pay any amount to get it, especially if it is a federal government job,” Abiodun Salami, a job recruiter said.

According to Salami, even parents source for money to ensure their children get federal jobs because of job security and even the pay, which has improved official and unofficially.

Salami insisted that, “If there is full employment, job racketeering will be curbed”.

Citing the fake agency case that is trending as an example of the job racketeering in the federal civil service, Akagbule queried why individuals will get such access or emboldened if not for the money they expended.

“There is a presidential embargo on employment, but the Head of the Service of the Federation waved the embargo and allowed Adeyemi 300 staff, including 10 directors,” Mahmud Jega, analyst at Arise TV, queried during a show.

Frowning at the trend, Pam noted that job racketeering is a criminal offence, which the EFCC, according to him, should feat on, but often look the other way.

“What am I even saying. Can you get job at the EFCC, CBN or NNPC if you don’t know anybody. That is part of the racketeering that has made it very difficult for the poor to get jobs here and for merit to be a core consideration for employment,” Pam said.

Today’s job market

While many are calling for the lifting of the embargo, Orhe Terse, a dean of an Abuja-based private university, decried that many Nigerian graduates are not trained for today’s job market and are often not employable even in the federal civil service.

He regretted that Nigeria’s education system is still primarily structured to produce graduates designed to fit into the public service system.

“We are in a digital world where creativity is the currency. The government, like the private sector employers, is looking for graduates who are highly skilled individuals, who could innovate solutions and ideas that can impact their work and boost efficiencies in the system,” he said.

With your chains of degrees, you can become creative and strike out on your own. That can get you attracted potential employers, even the government. I have some of our graduates in the Software Engineering who are working with some government agencies and earning good pay. That for me are special jobs, but they distinguished themselves. So, the government is also looking for such superstars to lead revolution in the federal civil service. It may sound funny, but it is real”.

Salami also noted that employers, even the federal government, are increasingly going after those with additional skills, special needs and not just the degree certificate.

“I know that connection matters in getting job here in Nigeria, but having additional skills, being in tune with the digital tool will give one an advantage,” he said.

However, many still consider the federal government as an employer of choice, hence the repeated call for the lift of the embargo on employment, which they insisted is long overdue.

They implore the government to lift the ban and put in place the necessary measures that will checkmate inefficiency, nepotism, leakages and fraud in the system, all in effort to take more out of the streets, empower people and curb insecurity.