Federal Govt Restates Commitment To Civil Servants’ Welfare

Federal government through the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has reaffirmed its commitment towards the welfare of civil servants, which it said is one of the pillars of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation plan 2021-2025.

Permanent secretary of service welfare office, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Ngozi Onwudiwe disclosed this at a one-day sensitization workshop organised by the FISH department for FISH Desk Officers in Ministries, extra-Ministerial Departments, and Agencies, as well as civil servants registered on the FISH programme with the theme: “Implementation of the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) Programme: Activation of the FISH Co-operative Scheme,” over the weekend in Abuja.

Onwudiwe, who was represented by the director of FISH, Uchenna Obi, in her address, stated that the workshop will bring to the fore a robust, inclusive, and sustainable approach toward the implementation of the FISH Programme.

She added that the main focus of the workshop is to educate and enlighten members of the FISH cooperative society on the concept of an ideal housing cooperative and how to leverage it to ensure that the housing need of members is met.

“All over the world, Housing Co-operative Societies play crucial roles in the delivery of affordable housing to their members by providing veritable platforms to aggregate funds and resources to achieve their mandates,” she noted.

Onwudiwe revealed that the FISH Programme, at inception, was designed to provide affordable housing for federal civil servants through an integrated strategy involving group land allocation, inter-ministerial collaborations, provision of infrastructure, and site services.

She said the OHCSF, via the FISH Department, has made concerted efforts towards actualizing its mandate of affordable housing delivery to civil servants, through the programme, which resulted in the commissioning of four housing estates since its inception in 2015 and the delivery of houses in different locations within the FCT such as Kuje, Bwari, Karshi, Karu and Apo-Wumba to over 300 off-takers.

The permanent secretary, however, noted that the need to consolidate efforts and sustain recorded achievements necessitated the OHCSF to constitute a committee to explore alternative sources of funding for the FISH Programme, apart from loans from the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board, FGSHLB, at 3 percent interest rate, that one of the suggestions was the need to activate the FISH Co-operative Society, in line with global best practices for mass social housing development.

She also averred that the performance of the majority of Co-operatives in the public service has been sub-optimal, with some enmeshed in corruption characterised by lack of transparency and accountability in their operations, and as such, public officers seem to have developed apathy towards their activities.