The Federal Government has tightened its control over the deployment and redeployment of civil servants, directing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to stop moving officers posted from recognised professional pools without approval from the appropriate authorities.
The directive was issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) as the administration of President Bola Tinubu intensifies efforts to address weaknesses in government personnel management, including ghost workers, fake agencies and unauthorised access to government systems.
In a circular dated August 24, 2026, with reference number HCSF/3065/V.I/275, the OHCSF warned that officers posted to MDAs from recognised professional pools must remain in the offices, departments, divisions, units or sections to which they were assigned unless their deployment is reviewed and approved by the relevant posting authority.
The circular was addressed to the Chief of Staff to the President, ministers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, permanent secretaries, service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police and heads of major Federal Government institutions and agencies.
According to the OHCSF, some MDAs had continued to disregard existing regulations by redeploying officers posted to them from professional pools without obtaining the required approval.
“The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has observed that some Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies have continued to redeploy officers posted to them from the professional pools of the OHCSF and other recognised pool offices without the approval of the relevant posting authorities,” the circular stated.
The OHCSF said the practice violated the provisions of an earlier circular, dated January 2, 2025, which prohibited the internal redeployment of pool officers within MDAs.
Under the latest directive, permanent secretaries are permitted to deploy or redeploy officers on the local staff establishment of their respective MDAs to areas where their services are required for effective and efficient service delivery.
However, officers posted to an MDA by the OHCSF or another recognised professional pool are subject to separate rules.
The circular stated, “Officers posted to Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies by the OHCSF or any other recognised professional pool shall remain in the offices, departments, divisions, units or sections to which they were specifically posted, in accordance with their posting instructions.”
It added, “Such officers shall not be redeployed internally without the prior approval of the relevant posting authority.”
The OHCSF made an exception for officers on Grade Level 07 to 14 who are posted to fill vacancies within departments.
Such officers may be deployed internally to divisions, units and sections where vacancies exist, provided the deployment remains within the scope of their respective pools or cadres.
Where operational circumstances require a change, the matter must be referred to the appropriate posting authority.
The circular stated, “Where operational exigencies necessitate any review of such postings, the matter shall be referred to the appropriate posting authority for review and necessary approval.”
The OHCSF ended the directive with an instruction to all affected authorities to “ensure strict compliance.”
The circular also listed the recognised professional pools and the authorities responsible for managing them.
The OHCSF manages the pools for Administrative Officers, Executive Officers (General), Store Officers, Stock Verifier Officers, Confidential Secretaries, System/Programme Analysts, Statistical/Data Processing Officers and Library Officers through the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office.
The Federal Ministry of Justice manages State Counsels, with the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary as the relevant authority.
The Bureau of Public Procurement manages Procurement Officers, while the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation is responsible for Information, Press and Public Relations Officers.
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation manages Account Officers and Executive Officers (Accounts), while the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation oversees Resident Auditors.
The circular also recognised other duly established professional pool offices and their respective cadres and managing authorities.
The development comes amid growing scrutiny of the Federal Government’s personnel and institutional control systems following investigations into purported government agencies.
President Tinubu on August 28 approved a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Federal Government agencies, ministries and their internal controls.
The Presidency said the audit followed a resolution of the Federal Executive Council on August 19 based on findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission concerning fake agencies, ghost workers and other control failures.
The exercise is expected to examine how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled on government systems, as well as the identity, biometric and bank-account controls used to verify government personnel.
It will also establish a definitive inventory of Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other bodies, while verifying their legal basis and how they obtained official recognition, budgetary consideration, office facilities and access to government systems.
The latest OHCSF directive therefore places greater emphasis on the chain of authority governing the deployment, movement and supervision of professional officers across the Federal Civil Service.
The directive follows a series of revelations involving purported government bodies.
In July, Tinubu ordered the ICPC to investigate the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council after the Presidency declared that the body was fictitious and had never been established by the Federal Government.
The subsequent ICPC investigation found that the purported council had no legal basis and that an appointment letter used by its promoter was forged.
On August 21, the ICPC announced the discovery of another purported federal agency, the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office.
The commission alleged that the organisation was promoted by George Nwabueze, with the suspected involvement of senior public servants in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Tinubu subsequently ordered the arrest of the promoter and the suspension of three permanent secretaries in the OSGF.
The revelations have raised concerns over how purported government agencies could obtain office accommodation, correspondence privileges, budgetary recognition, access to government systems and potentially government personnel.
The Federal Government’s forensic audit is expected to examine these broader institutional weaknesses.
According to the Presidency, the exercise will review the interfaces between IPPIS and other government platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, Remita, the Treasury Single Account and the Sub-Treasury Single Account.
It will also determine whether the identified weaknesses resulted from system defects, process failures, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention.
The Presidency said the audit would “strengthen the architecture of Government, close systemic loopholes, improve data verification and reconciliation, reinforce accountability, and ensure that only duly constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to Government resources.”
Against this backdrop, the OHCSF circular introduces another layer of control by requiring that the movement of professional pool officers be authorised and traceable to the appropriate posting authority.
It also places responsibility on permanent secretaries and heads of MDAs to ensure that officers are not arbitrarily moved from their approved postings.
Although the circular did not expressly link the directive to the ongoing investigations into fake government agencies, its emphasis on recognised professional pools, approved establishments, authorised posting authorities and strict compliance reflects the Federal Government’s broader effort to strengthen administrative controls.
The directive effectively prevents civil servants posted through recognised professional pools from being moved into unauthorised positions or establishments through informal arrangements, while placing the relevant pool authorities at the centre of decisions concerning their deployment.
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