The Federal Government has said federal universities and other tertiary institutions must continue to obtain recruitment waivers through the established approval process, following confusion over comments made at a recent university convocation.
The Federal Ministry of Education, in a statement issued on October 19, said the procedure remained in force despite impressions created by remarks delivered on behalf of President Bola Tinubu at the maiden convocation of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, on October 17.
The statement, signed by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Boriowo Folasade, explained that responsibility for approving establishment waivers rests with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), while recruitment waiver requests are considered by a committee chaired by the Minister of Education.
The ministry said the two processes serve different but related purposes in determining staffing needs across federal institutions.
According to the statement, the OHCSF approves establishment waivers and assesses manpower requirements, while its representative on the recruitment waiver committee helps evaluate requests against institutions’ approved staff establishments.
The committee considers whether an institution’s staffing needs justify additional recruitment before a waiver can be approved.
The ministry said the existing arrangement had been in operation for several years and was designed to support institutional efficiency while allowing federal tertiary institutions to address staffing needs within established government procedures.
It therefore directed institutions to continue complying with the approval framework when seeking permission to recruit additional personnel.
“All requests must continue to comply strictly with the established approval process,” the statement said.
The clarification followed remarks at the October 17 convocation that the ministry said had created an erroneous impression that the recruitment waiver procedure had been discontinued.
The ministry did not state in the release that the existing process had been replaced or abolished. Instead, it reaffirmed the roles of the OHCSF and the ministerial committee in reviewing staffing and recruitment requests.
The ministry said the framework was consistent with the Federal Government’s emphasis on transparency, due process and accountability in managing human resources across federal tertiary institutions.
It added that the procedure aligned with the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative and President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
