By Okon Okon
The Federal Government says it will sanction senior management cadre officers in the civil service, who are absent from the ongoing Structured Assessment-Based Training Programme (SMAT-P) training.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Dr Foslasade Yemi-Esan, gave the warning, when she visited the participants at their course centres on Wednesday.
Yemi-Esan, who was represented by Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office in HOCSF, said she was there to to interact with them on the importance of the training.
She said that they were trained as management officers, who are expected to retrain other junior officers coming after them, hence the need for participation.
“The programme is structured mandatory assessment based-training programme and is for directorate cadre officers, and they should be able to hack into instructions.
“The training is mandatory and we already told them to come in fifth batches, so it is mandatory and in the performance management, there will be incentives and there will be consequences.
“So, anybody who fails to attend, has to explain why he or she fails to attend. Like I said, there will be sanctions, consequences for not attending, ” she said.
The HOS, however, appreciated those who took time to attend the training, and advised them to take it seriously as it would upgrade their horizon for the service.
“There is no knowledge that is lost even if you are to retire in the next five months, you still need it.
She said the training which was basically on “Strategic Leadership Management”, among other basic elements was to give them an advanced knowledge, even as Federal Government had reiterated its commitment to reposition the public civil service.
Meanwhile, Mrs Winnie Lar-Solarin, Director Animal Husbandry Science, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, who is also a participant, appreciated the government for the gesture.
Also, Mr Tim Obot, Deputy Director Ministry of Health, said the training would expose them to what is entail to be a leader even after retiring from the civil service.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the SMART-P is one of the reformed initiative programmes of Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP) 2021-2025, to improve service delivery and effectiveness of worker in public service.
NAN also reports that the five-day training of 1, 800 officers was organised for directors, assistant directors and deputy directors from different Ministries, Departments and Agencies. (NAN)
