Shakeup Looms In The Civil Service As FG Begins Workforce Audit, Skills Gap Analysis

• The federal government has announced a major shakeup for the federal civil service
• The exercise has already commenced in two states, and the head of service has confirmed plans to extend to other states
• This could cause a major shakeup in the civil service, especially as the government works towards building a modern-day workforce

Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon, a journalist with Legit.ng, has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

The federal government of Nigeria has confirmed plans to carry out a personnel audit and skills gap analysis of the civil service.

This is at the core of plans to build a 21st-century workforce that can drive a technology driven government.

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, disclosed this in Abuja while declaring open the strategic study tour for Heads of Civil Service of the 36 states and the FCT.

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Mrs. Walson-Jack revealed that the skills gap analysis had already commenced in two states—Borno and Katsina—and would eventually be extended to other states and the FCT.

She noted that it was crucial to help the government identify the skills lacking in its workforce and actively consider them in future recruitments.

She said:

“The truth is, most of the civil services, the federal service inclusive, we do not have the right skills for a 21st-century workforce. I was at an international conference in Singapore last year, and one of the OECD representatives said he had done research and found that in Nigeria we need to infuse 39 skills into our service.

"So, we need to do a skills gap analysis to identify the skills that are not there and match them with the skills that we need, to help us in our recruitment.”

The federal Head of Service noted that this exercise needs to be extended to all 36 states and urged the states' Heads of Service to take action.

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Walson-Jack assured that her office would be ready to provide support, policy direction, and training to the states, according to This Day news.

She reiterated the role of a disciplined, digitally driven, citizen-focused Civil Service to national development, especially at a time like this when the rest of the world has advanced in technological adoption.

Federal workers to get wage arrears

In May 2025, the federal government promised that it would soon pay off the N35,000 wage award arrears for five months.

The wage award had been agreed as part of a package to ease the lives of civil servants following the removal of fuel subsidies and subsequent hardships.

In keeping with the promise, civil servants received the first tranche of the payment after the May 29 Democracy Day celebration.

The Accountant-General of the Federation also announced the schedule to pay the remaining instalments.

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Civil servants demand minimum wage implementation

In related news, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) mounted a protest at the office of Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Legit.ng reported that they were protesting the government's delay in implementing the N70,000 minimum wage payment for the six area councils' workers in the FCT.

Following the protest, Wike summoned the council chairmen to explain their delay in implementing the minimum wage.

Source: Legit.ng