NAN
Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, says the Federal Government is planning an upward review of the two per cent recruitment slot, allocated to the physically-challenged applicants in the country.
Oyo-Ita, who said this while addressing the Association of Physically-Challenged Applicants, in Abuja on Thursday, noted that the review was long overdue.
She said that the review would be done by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and the Federal Civil Service Commission.
Oyo-Ita said that there would be more interaction with the officials of the association, to ensure that the review was done, and they were well-employed and given good life.
“It is something that we have been working on with the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) in the last two years.
“Government works in line with policies and regulations, and this two per cent was arrived at by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and have been in practice for more than 20 years now,’’ Oyo-Ita said.
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The head of service appealed to the state governments to increase their recruitment allocation for the physically-challenged, so that they can be employed, and the federal civil service would not be over bloated.
“I want to appeal to the state governments not to continue pushing their responsibilities on the shoulder of the Federal Government; these disabled are Nigerians, but they also come from states.
“We believe that the state and Federal Governments should work in unity to address the plight of the disabled; the situation where state governments totally abdicated their responsibility to the federal is really a cause for concern.
“Right now, state governments are not recruiting; everybody is looking at the Federal Government even the private sector are not recruiting.
“And at the same time, people complain that federal civil service is over-bloated; federal service will not be over bloated if state and private sector are playing their own part,’’ she said.
Earlier, Mr Godstime Onyegbulam, President, Association of Physically-Challenged Applicants, demanded 30 per cent increase in recruitment slots, stating that they were the most marginalised when it comes to employment.
Onyegbulam said that they were also disenfranchised in recruitment process because of the online registration, thus appealing to be exempted from the online process.
“We want 30 per cent of the recruitment slot allocation because we spend more money in attaining education because of our disability; we cannot do any other thing apart from working with the government.
“We are being discriminated when it comes to military and paramilitary jobs; but the able-bodied people can work everywhere and anywhere, even menial jobs; but we cannot do that.
“This is the main reason we should be considered first before any person in recruitment, because we don’t find it easy at all,’’ he said.