Lagos Council Mass Transfer Shocks Super Civil Servant
By Abolaji Adebayo
There has been mass transfer of civil servants across the 57 Local Government/Local Council Development Areas in Lagos, recently. About 651 officers were moved from one local council to another including those who were not due for transfer according to the Civil Service Commission’s rule in redeployment.
As gathered by ECHONEWS, a worker must spend three years in a place of work before he/she could be transferred to another place. However, it was not clear why the mass transfer was carried out in all the local councils even as many of the officers have not spent up to three years in their previous local government. For instance, the former Council Treasurer in Isolo LCDA had not spent a year in Isolo before being transferred to another local government. It was gathered that a few of the transfers might have been used to settle old scores considering the case of Dr. Kuku, the Head of Information in Onigbongbo LCDA.
It is believed that he had to be moved because of disagreements with the council treasurer and the executive chairman.
Kuku had taken interest in the need to generate more revenue, an additional area where he gained experience while serving at the Igando-Ikotun LCDA but his moves rankled the powers that be who feared that his role m i g h t u n d e r m i n e e x i s t i n g arrangements.
Asides such issue, it was also gathered that some officers were due for higher positions and that there is need for others to man other department different from their current departments.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Local Government Establishments, Training and Pensions Office, Mrs. Kikelomo Bolarinwa, said the deployment was carried out in “Pursuant to the deployment policy in the Unified Local Government Service and to enhance efficient service delivery.”
In a circular signed by the PS, the affected officers were directed to report at their new duty posts with immediate effect.
“Accordingly, officer affected by this deployment are hereby directed to hand-over and report at their respective duty posts with immediate effect. Please note that no entreaties in respect of the above deployment would be entertain and failure to comply with this circular would attract strong disciplinary action.
” C o n s e q u e n t l y, a l l H e a d s o f Administration and Human Resource Officers should ensure necessary action is taken to effect release of the affected officers.”
In the new deployment, 19 Human Resource Officers (HROs) who are between the Grade Level 15 and 17 were affected; 23 Legislative Clerks; nine Auditors and 16 Second Signatories (SS) were also deployed from one local government to the other.
O t h e r s a f f e c t e d b y t h e n e w d e p l o y m e n t a r e H e a d s o f Departments, Council Treasurers, Procurement, WAPA, Area Officers, Marriage Registrars, Court Registrars, Head of Units, Tourism Officers, and others.
