The Federal Government has tightened control over the deployment and redeployment of civil servants across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), ordering an immediate halt to the internal transfer of officers from recognised professional pools without explicit approval from their parent posting authorities.
​The directive, aimed at plugging systemic personnel leakages and eliminating administrative loopholes, was issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) via a circular dated August 24, 2026 (Ref. No: HCSF/3065/V.I/275).
​The circular was addressed to the Chief of Staff to the President, Ministers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Permanent Secretaries, Service Chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police, and heads of extra-ministerial institutions.
​The OHCSF revealed that despite earlier directives, specifically Circular Ref. No. HCSF/3065/VI/218 issued on January 2, 2025, several MDAs continued to internally redeploy officers posted to them from professional pools without recourse to the designated posting authorities.
​”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,” the circular stated. “Such officers shall not be redeployed internally without the prior approval of the relevant posting authority”.
Under redefined mandate, Permanent Secretaries retain the authority to deploy only officers on the local staff establishment of their respective MDAs to fulfill operational needs.
Pool Officers (e.g., Accountants, Administrative Officers, Information Officers, and Resident Auditors managed by bodies like the OHCSF or the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation) cannot be reassigned internally by host MDAs.
Operational Exigencies, Where changes are unavoidable, the host MDA must formally submit a request to the appropriate pool authority for review and approval.
​The circular provides a narrow exception for officers on Grade Levels 07 to 14 posted to fill departmental vacancies. These officers may be adjusted to divisions, units, or sections where operational vacancies exist, provided the new role remains strictly within the scope of their designated professional cadre.
​The administrative order coincides with an intensified crackdown by President Bola Tinubu’s administration on ghost workers, payroll fraud, and unapproved government bodies.
​Ongoing audits targeting the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) are examining how unauthorized organizations and ineligible personnel gained access to official facilities, budgetary allocations, and government systems.
By mandating full traceability for professional pool postings, the Federal Government seeks to ensure civil servants cannot be quietly shuffled into unauthorized establishments or non-existent cadres through informal internal arrangements.
