The House of Representatives Committee on Public Service Matters has rejected the 2026 budget allocation to the Federal Civil Service Commission ( FCSC) based on the envelope provided by the Ministry of Budget and Planning.
The committee said that the allocation fell below the required budgetary provision that could possibly meet the expectations of Nigerians in the commission’s discharge of its responsibilities. It thus asked the budget office of the federation to revisit the allocation for the FCSC so that it could reflect what it requires to effectively execute its responsibilities.
The Chairman of the committee, Sani Umar Bala, disclosed the position of the panel on Thursday during the 2026 budget defence of the commission by its Chairman, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, in Abuja .
Bala said that the N2.6 billion allocation, of which N1.24 billion covers personnel cost for 2026, would be inadequate for the FCSC to effectively carry out its functions as touching on recruitment, promotion, and disciplinary control of the civil service and staff appeal.
According to him, the FCSC is an executive body established in the 1999 Constitution under Section 153 and Part 1 D of the Third Schedule. He said that this constitutional provision highlighted the scope of the power of the FCSC to cover appointment, promotion and disciplinary control of the components of career management of the civil service.
Bala, however, decried a situation where the FCSC has been handicapped in performing its mandates over the years by inadequate budgetary provisions.
He disclosed that his committee’s oversight function on the FCSC had revealed a wide gap between the responsibilities of the commission and the funding it needs to carry them out.
He said, for instance, the issue of fake appointments that the FCSC was faced with needed a significant control of its internal control mechanism leveraging technology which is a significant part of the reform of the commission for which no adequate budgetary provisions has been made.
According to him, the lawmakers and other Nigerians have been expecting the complete execution of the 2024 recruitment waiver granted the FCSC but this has not been done because there has been no provision for this in the commission’s budget.
Consequently , he expressed the need for more adequate budgetary provisions especially in light of the human resource audit in the civil service that might reveal vacancies and require more recruitment.
He also condemned a situation where because of inadequate funding, the FCSC is unable to check the excesses of agencies of government to which it delegated powers but which are being abused through unscrupulous recruitment that has increased personnel cost for the government.
Bala said that his committee had also observed that the commission’s poor funding was also expressed in its inability to meet legal obligations such as appearing in court, thereby resulting in default fees.
While commending the efforts of the commission under the leadership of Olaopa to upgrade its data management system, he said that more funding was needed to effectively drive the whole process.
He stressed the need to enhance the operations of the top officials of the commission such as through the adequate provision of official vehicles to ensure that they effectively carry out their mandates.
The findings of the committee , according to him, also showed that the inadequate funding of the FCSC has made it difficult for it to fulfil international obligations to bodies such as the Association of African Public Service Commissions (AAPSCOMS). He said that the commission should be adequately funded in light of the fact that it would host AAPSCOMS general assembly and biennial conference in 2026, which is a pre-election year, thus requiring the projection of a good image of the country before the international community.
Earlier, in his presentation, Olaopa said that the budget would cover personnel, overhead, and capital expenditures.
Olaopa also said that the budget would cover the cost of digitisation of its recruitment to enhance effectiveness and transparency.
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