The Taraba State Government has explained the deduction made from the January salaries of civil servants, saying it was to cover the cost of Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) forms.
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The clarification was provided on Monday in a statement issued to journalists after a meeting with the Joint Council in Jalingo by the Permanent Secretary, Establishment and Records Office under the Head of Service, Mr Christopher Machoko.
Machoko said the explanation became necessary following complaints on social media over the N3,000 deducted from the salaries of Taraba state civil servants, adding that the deduction was not new.
Recalling that a similar exercise was carried out in January 2024, Machoko who noted that many civil servants had developed the habit of neglecting the mandatory annual completion of APER forms, said they only fill them when due for promotion, a practice he said had negatively affected efficiency in the civil service.
He further revealed that civil servants had been exploited in the process of obtaining APER forms, with some officers paying as much as N5,000 per form, while the government lost revenue.
He also disclosed that some unscrupulous individuals produced fake APER forms and sold them to unsuspecting officers at inflated prices.
Machoko explained that these challenges informed governor Agbu Kefas’ decision to approve a yearly deduction of N3,000 for the production of genuine APER forms, which will now be officially produced and distributed to all civil servants..
“The annual completion of APER forms is mandatory for proper grading and performance evaluation of officers.
In 2024, as part of efforts to ease the burden on workers, the governor approved the free production and distribution of APER forms to all state civil servants as a palliative,” the permanent secretary stated.
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