The Federal Government has urged State Governments to adhere to the National Council of Establishment (NCE) resolutions on the abolition of dichotomy between Higher National Diploma (HND) and degree holders.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Oyo-Ita said state governments were involved in the resolutions and it was wrong for them to foot-drag in the implementation of the process.
NAN recalls that the NCE in 2016 at its 39th meeting in Minna, Niger, abrogated the dichotomy between HND and degree holders in the country’s public service.
The NCE is the highest decision making body of the civil service saddled with the responsibilities of handling establishment matters.
Its members are drawn from the federal and state civil service.
She said the implementation of the resolutions would boost the morale of civil servants and enhance service delivery.
“The NCE handles establishment matters in the civil service and whatever is decided is approved at that level.
“Circulars are issued by the office of the head of civil service, in line with whatever has been approved.
“We expect the state government to implement the resolutions of NCE, but in a situation where states decided not to abide by the resolutions, it truly calls for concern.
“I’m aware that some states have failed to implement these recommendations, while others implemented immediately there was a resolution.
“I want to appeal to states to try and go along with the resolutions that have been passed because NCE is the highest ruling body for public service,” she said.
She said failure to adhere to the resolutions would create unnecessary labour unrest in the states, adding that it was not healthy for the growth of the service.
Oyo-Ita further said salaries of staff of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that failed to enroll on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) would no longer be paid.
According to her, this is in line with the implementation of the Human Resource Module of IPPIS which is part of the eight priority areas of the 2017-2020 strategic plans.
“We have issued circulars on all print and electronic media inviting all MDAs to come on board to the IPPIS platform and update their staff records.
“Any MDA that fails to comply will be completely cut off from the salaries and wages section of the appropriation and will not be receiving salaries and wages for their organisations,” she added.
NAN recalls that May 28, was the deadline earlier set for the update of MDAs on the IPPIS platform.