The Bola Ahmed Tinubu led Federal Government has tightened controls on the deployment and redeployment of civil servants, directing Ministries, Departments and Agencies to stop moving officers belonging to recognized professional pools without approval from the authorities responsible for their postings.
The directive is coming as the administration of President Tinubu intensifies efforts to tackle concerns over fake government agencies, ghost workers, and weakness in the personnel and institutional control system.
The circular with reference number HCSF/3065/V.I/275, dated August 24, 2026, was issued by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
The directive cautioned that officers posted to MDAs from recognized professional pools must stay in their approved offices, departments, divisions, units or sections unless their deployment is reviewed and approved by the relevant authority.
The PUNCH reports that 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 still moved officers posted to them from professional pools without approval from the relevant posting authority.
It 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 recognized pool offices without approval of the relevant posting authorities.”
Read Also: ‘We Won’t Wait For Looters To Finish Stealing’ – EFCC Announces Change Of Strategy
The circular said this is against the earlier Circular Ref. No. HCSF/3065/VI/218 of January 2, 2025, on prohibition of internal redeployment of pool officers within MDAs.
The OHCSF circular aims to clarify the chain of authority over who can deploy, move and supervise professional officers within the Federal Civil Service.
It directed that permanent secretaries shall only deploy or redeploy officers on the local staff establishment of their various MDAs to areas where their services are required for effective and efficient service delivery.
However, officers seconded to an MDA by the OHCSF or another recognized professional pool are subject to a different rule.
“Officers posted to Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies by the OHCSF or any other recognized professional pool shall remain in the offices, departments, divisions, units or sections to which they were specifically posted in accordance with their posting instructions,” the circular stated.
“Such officers will not be internally redeployed without prior approval of the concerned posting authority.”
However, the OHCSF made a qualification of officers on Grade Level 07 to 14 posted to fill vacancies in departments.
However, such officers can be deployed internally in divisions, units and sections where there are vacancies as long as it remains within the scope of their respective pools or cadres, the circular said.
The circular said, “Where operational exigencies require any review of such postings, the matter shall be referred to the appropriate posting authority for review and necessary approval.”
The circular noted that, under the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, recognized 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 supervised by the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office, OHCSF.
At the Federal Ministry of Justice, the State Counsels make up the recognized pool, with the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary 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 pool of Information, Press and Public Relations Officers is under the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, which is run by its Permanent Secretary.
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has two recognized cadres, which are Account Officers and Executive Officers (Accounts). The managing authority is the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The pool of Resident Auditors is under the Auditor-General for the Federation and is managed by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The circular also recognized any other duly recognized professional pool office having the applicable cadre and managing authority.
The listing in detail points out that professional officers posted to MDAs are subject to certain administrative structures and cannot just be moved from one establishment to another at the discretion of individual officials.
