FG Tightens Civil Service Deployment Rules Over Fake Agencies

The Bola Ahmed Tinubu led Federal Government has cracked down on the movement and redeployment of civil servants directing the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to desist from the movement of officers belonging to recognized professional pools without the approval from the authorities responsible for their postings.

The directive is coming as the administration of President Tinubu intensifies efforts to tackle concerns over fake government agencies, ghost workers, and weakness in the personnel and institutional control system.

The directive was given in a circular dated August 24, 2026 with reference number HCSF/3065/V.I/275, by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

The directive warned that officers deployed to MDAs from recognized professional pools must stay in their approved offices, departments, divisions, units or sections unless their deployment is reviewed and approved by the relevant authority.

The PUNCH reported that the circular, addressed to the Chief of Staff to the President, ministers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, permanent secretaries, service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police and heads of relevant Federal Government institutions and agencies,

The Head of Service said it has noticed that some MDAs still moved officers posted to them from professional pools without approval from the relevant posting authority.

It read: “The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has observed that some Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies have continued to redeploy officers posted to them from the professional pools of the OHCSF and other recognized pool offices without approval of the relevant posting authorities.

It said this is against the earlier Circular Ref. No. HCSF/3065/VI/218 of January 2, 2025 on the prohibition of internal redeployment of pool officers within the MDAs.

The OHCSF circular seeks to clarify the chain of authority over who is able to deploy, move and supervise professional officers within the Federal Civil Service.

It directed that permanent secretaries may only deploy or redeploy officers on the local staff establishment of their various MDAs to areas where their services are required for effective and efficient service delivery.

However, a different rule applies to officers seconded to an MDA by the OHCSF or another recognized professional pool.

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“Officers posted to Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies by the OHCSF or any other recognized professional pool shall remain in the offices, departments, divisions, units or sections to which they were specifically posted in accordance with their posting instructions,” the circular read.

“The concerned posting authority will have to approve before any internal redeployment of such officers.

However, the OHCSF carried out a qualification of officers on Grade Level 07 to 14 who were posted to fill vacancies in departments.

But such officers could be deployed internally in divisions, units and sections where there are vacancies as long as it is within the scope of their respective pools or cadres, the circular said.

The circular said, “Where operational exigencies require any review of such postings, the matter shall be referred to the appropriate posting authority for review and necessary approval.”

The circular said recognized cadres under the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation include Administrative Officers, Executive Officers (General), Store Officers, Stock Verifier Officers, Confidential Secretaries, System/Programme Analysts, Statistical/Data Processing Officers and Library Officers. The Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office, OHCSF, oversees these officers.

In the Federal Ministry of Justice, the recognized pool is made up of the State Counsels, with the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary as the managing authority.

The Bureau of Public Procurement under the authority of the Director-General of the Bureau manages the professional pool of Procurement Officers.

The Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation runs the pool of Information, Press and Public Relations Officers, under its Permanent Secretary.

There are two recognized cadres in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, which are Account Officers and Executive Officers (Accounts). The managing authority is the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The pool of Resident Auditors is under the Auditor-General for the Federation and is handled by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.

The circular also recognized any other duly recognized professional pool office with the applicable cadre and managing authority.

The listing shows that professional officers posted to MDAs are subject to certain administrative structures and cannot just be transferred from one establishment to another at the whims of individual officials.