The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has presented the Ministerial Service Award to sixteen deserving officers, in recognition of their dedication to duty and excellent service delivery.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Yerima Peter Tarfa, stated that the Award programme was organised by the Ministry as part of activities to mark this year’s African Public Service Day, which is a day set aside by the African Union (AU) member states to celebrate public servants for their hard work and commitment to service.

He said that the Ministerial Award was to celebrate members of staff who had been found worthy of recognition on account of their dedication to duty.

“Today’s Ministerial Award is to celebrate some of the Ministry’s staff, who have exhibited exceptional commitment and dedication to service.”

Tarfa said that the recipients of this year’s Award were doubly deserving of the recognition, as they also braved the COVID-19 pandemic to discharge their duties creditable.

“This year’s Ministerial Award is unique in the sense that those who are conferred with the Award are those whose services were not hindered in any significant way by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This year’s Award recognizes excellence, dedication, commitment, bravery and loyalty.”

He encouraged the Awardees to deepen their commitment to service, and the rest of the staff to re-dedicate themselves to duty.

Tarfa stated that though not everybody was recognised for the Award, the staff of the Ministry had routinely demonstrated a deep sense of respect for service ethics.”

He stated that the recipients of the Award were drawn from different departments and across cadres in the Ministry, noting that it was a pointer that every department and cadre had done it’s best to sustain service delivery.

The Permanent Secretary stated that the African Public Service Day is celebrated by African Union member countries every year, on 23rd June, to honour public servants for their selfless services in “driving the developmental Agenda of Governments of Africa.”

He noted that the theme of this year’s African Public Service Day, “Deploying Technology to Sustain and Enhance Service Delivery in the Face of the Challenging COVID-19 Pandemic Climate”, reflected greatly the effort of the Ministry in that direction.

According to him, “this Ministry has done so well in the deployment of relevant technological and scientific tools to stem the spread and impact of COVID-19 in the workplace.

“In the Ministry, we have utilized a combination of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical preventive methods to protect the workforce against the pandemic. It is remarkable that the Ministry has not recorded any COVID-19 casualty.”

The recipients of the Ministerial Award include the Director, Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations (TUSIR) Department, Omoabie U. Akpan (Mrs); Deputy Director, Permanent Secretary’s Office, Emmanuel Nosakhire Igbinosun; Deputy Director, Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department, Christopher Agwu; Assistant Director, Inspectorate Department, Dennis O. Ejeh, among others, and the late Ashiru Tajudeen, a Chief Clerical Officer, who received a posthumous award for commitment and dedication to work.

Some highlights of the event were the lectures on “National Strategy for Public Service Reform”, and “An Overview of Civil Service Transformation” delivered by Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reform, Mallam Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, and Director, Service Policies and Strategies Office (SPSO), Office of the Head of Civil,Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Mr B. J. Sule, respectively.