The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Abuja Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), has called for the immediate restructuring of the Agency to address the problem of career stagnation.
Mr Collins Yakubu-Hammer, Chairman of the chapel, made the call at a sensitisation lecture on Friday in Abuja.
The lecture titled “Promotion Based on Vacancy, Manpower and How to Restructure MDAs to Address Stagnation,” was organised by the chapel.
Yakubu-Hammer said the essence of the lecture was to sensitise members of the union on Public Service Rules (PSR) and government policy on promotion and restructuring.
“Knowledge is power and restructuring of an organisation is key to career development and job satisfaction.
“Our members are suffering from chronic stagnation due to the rules on promotion based on vacancy as provided in the PSR.
“We have about 16 officers on Grade Level 16 in the Agency who are due for promotion to Grade Level 17.
“Also, there are other officers on Grade Levels 10, 12 13 and 14 who passed promotion examination but could not be promoted due to the vacancy clause.
“These officer are stagnated because of no vacancy; it is demoralising and can negatively affect productivity,” he added.
The chairman urged the government and management to expand the directorates of the Agency which have remained virtually the same for over two decades.
“We need immediate expansion to address the issue, maximize productivity and generate more revenue for NAN.
“We are begging the Federal Government and management of the Agency to intensify effort and restructure NAN, so that members of staff could be motivated to maximize productivity,” Yakubu-Hammer said.
According to him, there is need to create departments responsible for Foreign, Abuja, Lagos and Zonal Operations, as well as Digital and New Media, Library and Documentation, Training, Photo, Monitoring and Evaluation and others.
“If NAN is restructured in those lines, it will go a long way in addressing issues of chronic stagnation that a lot of staff are currently facing in the agency,” he added.
In the lecture presented by Mr Michael Dogo from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the issue of promotion, conversion and upgrade was highlighted to be the desire of every public officer.
According to him, the civil service Appointment, Promotion and Discipline Guideline has exempted officers on Grade Level 8 going to 9 from promotion based on vacancies.
He also said promotion based on vacancy should not be applicable to public officers on Grade Level 14 downward.
The rationale behind vacancy in promotion is to head a unit or department. This is the spirit behind the issue of promotion based on vacancy.
“However, note that there is no ‘special promotion’ in the public service, as contained in Chapter 15 of the PSR; this is because, it has been abused over time and there is no criteria or yardstick for special promotion.
“You can reward a hard working staff with monetary awards, rewards or other forms of motivation, but not promoting the staff ahead of others,” he said.
On restructuring, Dogo said it is the function of Organisation and Design Department under the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, based on request from any MDA.
“However, you need to look at the organisation structure, method of operation, manning levels and others.
“Restructuring is necessary for an organisation that members of staff are suffering from stagnation.
“Management of an organisation must get involved in restructuring if they really want to motivate the staff.
“There are circulars in 1997, 2006 and 2017 that provided guides on restructuring of MDAs.
“Every officer want to progress on the career ladder, thus restructuring is a necessity,” Dogo said.
A Senior Editor, Mr Gregory Mmaduakolam said the lecture was an eye opener and recommended that it should also be conducted for the management, to encourage them to explore the process.(NAN