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The Bola Ahmed Tinubu led Federal Government has tightened controls over the deployment and redeployment of civil servants, directing Ministries, Departments and Agencies to stop moving officers belonging to recognised professional pools without approval from the authorities responsible for their postings.
The directive comes as the administration of President Tinubu intensifies efforts to address concerns over fake government agencies, ghost workers and weakness in personnel and institutional control system.
The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation issued the directive in a circular dated August 24, 2026 with reference number HCSF/3065/V.I/275.
The directive warned that officers posted to MDAs from recognised professional pools must remain in their approved offices, departments, divisions, units or sections unless their deployment is reviewed and approved by the relevant authority.
According to The PUNCH, 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 relevant Federal Government institutions and agencies.
The Head of Service said it has observed that some MDAs continued to move officers assigned to them from professional pools without obtaining approval from the relevant posting authority.
The circular said: “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.”
According to the circular, the practice violates an earlier Circular Ref. No. HCSF/3065/VI/218 dated January 2, 2025, on the prohibition of internal redeployment of pool officers within MDAs.
The OHCSF circular seeks to establish a clearer chain of authority over who can deploy, move and supervise professional officers within the Federal Civil Service.
It directed permanent secretaries may deploy or redeploy only 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 a different rule.
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.
“Such officers shall not be redeployed internally without the prior approval of the relevant posting authority.”
The OHCSF, however, made a qualification for officers on Grade Level 07 to 14 who are posted to fill vacancies in departments.
According to the circular, such officers may be deployed internally to divisions, units and sections where vacancies exist, provided such deployment remains within the scope of their respective pools or cadres.
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.”
Under the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the circular noted that, recognised cadres include Administrative Officers, Executive Officers (General), Store Officers, Stock Verifier Officers, Confidential Secretaries, System/Programme Analysts, Statistical/Data Processing Officers and Library Officers. These officers are managed by the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office of the OHCSF.
At the Federal Ministry of Justice, the recognised pool consists of State Counsels, with the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary serving as the managing authority.
The Bureau of Public Procurement manages the professional pool of Procurement Officers, under the authority of the Director-General of the Bureau.
The Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation manages the pool of Information, Press and Public Relations Officers, under its Permanent Secretary.
At the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the recognised cadres are Account Officers and Executive Officers (Accounts), with the Accountant-General of the Federation as the managing authority.
The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation manages the pool of Resident Auditors, under the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The circular also recognised any other duly recognised professional pool office, with the applicable cadre and managing authority.
The detailed listing underscores the fact that professional officers posted to MDAs are subject to defined administrative structures and cannot simply be moved from one establishment to another at the discretion of individual officials.
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