From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has been briefed on the 2017- 2019 Head of Service Strategic Plan meant to rebuild the Federal Civil Service. He was also briefed on the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) programme and other activities of the service. The strategic plan launched by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in February is aimed at finding innovative ways for ministries and their parastatals to generate revenue for the government. The highlight of the plan involves four objectives which include capacity development and performance management for civil servants. It also stressed the importance of innovation in the face of government’s dwindling revenue. The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, spoke to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Buhari.
“Mr President wanted an update on the (Civil) Service so far and especially the 2017 – 2019 Head of Service Strategic Plan and I also briefed him on our FISH programme which as you know is sub-set of Mr. President’s National Housing Policy, which is so dear to him. “We are now relating with the developers and also working very closely with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria for mortgage facilities for civil servants. “The Minister of Power, Works and Housing has given us a lot of cooperation in this regard.” She explained that the FISH programme was launched by the federal government in 2016. The housing programme is aimed at addressing the bottlenecks encountered in securing land “for projects and most importantly, to eliminate middlemen and land speculations from the housing value-chain.” The federal government has so far committed over N30b to the execution of affordable houses for the civil servants under the FISH programme, with an initiate pilot scheme of 1,000 units for completion in six months. She explained that the Head of Service Strategic Plan from 2017-2019 which was inaugurated in March, was aimed at repositioning the Federal Civil Service for efficient service delivery to Nigerians and progressive development of the country.