Business
Plateau State Inducts NG-CARES Staff Into Civil Service, Emphasizes Performance-Driven Governance
The Plateau State Government, in collaboration with the World Bank under the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme, has commenced a two-day orientation and induction workshop for newly absorbed NG-CARES staff into the state civil service.
The workshop, organised by the Plateau State CARES Coordinating Unit (PL-SCCU), is holding from Wednesday, June 10 to Thursday, June 11, 2026, at the Millennium International Conference Centre, opposite Solomon Lar Amusement Park, Jos.
The programme, which also featured participants drawn from various backgrounds, is aimed at integrating contract staff into the formal civil service structure while strengthening their understanding of public service rules, ethics, and performance expectations.
Speaking during the opening session, the State Coordinator of NG-CARES, Dr. Haggai Gutap, said the absorption of staff into the civil service was a deliberate policy by the state government to retain trained human capital and avoid the recurrent loss of skilled personnel after programme cycles.
He explained that previous World Bank-supported interventions often relied on contract staff who were disengaged after project completion, leading to the loss of institutional capacity. According to him, the current approach ensures sustainability and continuity in governance.
“This set of people have been trained over the years, and letting them go would mean incurring losses as a state. The Governor believes in human capital development and has approved their absorption to retain their expertise,” he said.
Dr. Gutap further noted that the NG-CARES programme operates on a results-based financing model, where disbursements from the World Bank are tied strictly to performance outcomes, stressing the need for efficiency, teamwork, and adherence to operational guidelines.
He added that the state is transitioning into NG-CARES 2.0, aimed at consolidating achievements and maintaining Plateau State’s leading position in programme implementation nationwide.
Delivering the keynote address, the Chairman of the Plateau State Civil Service Commission, Prof. Paul S. Wai, described the induction as a significant milestone, noting that absorption into the civil service goes beyond employment to becoming part of a structured system guided by rules, values, and institutional traditions.
He urged the new officers to uphold professionalism, integrity, accountability, loyalty, and discipline, stressing that ignorance of civil service regulations is not an excuse for non-compliance.
“The Civil Service remains the permanent machinery of government. Your success depends on your competence, dedication, and adherence to established rules and procedures,” he said.
Prof. Wai further encouraged continuous learning, merit-based progression, and result-oriented performance, noting that government expects improved service delivery and innovation from civil servants.
He also commended the administration of Governor Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang for its commitment to building a professional, technology-driven civil service and for absorbing qualified NG-CARES personnel into the system.
In a goodwill message, the representative of the Head of Civil Service and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Rebecca Shaset, described the initiative as timely, noting that the civil service is governed strictly by rules and procedures.
She urged the newly inducted staff to demonstrate accountability, competence, dedication, and commitment to duty in order to build public confidence in government institutions.
“As civil servants, you must comply with the rules and show dedication to effectively deliver services to the public,” she said.
Also speaking, Mrs. Gladys Lircit Sodo, Deputy Director (Administration), Plateau State Ministry of Finance, who represented the Commissioner for Finance and Chairperson of the State Steering Committee on NG-CARES, encouraged participants to engage actively in the training, share experiences, and prepare for effective programme implementation.
She commended the organisers for equipping the new staff with the necessary orientation, describing NG-CARES as a critical intervention programme requiring commitment and readiness for impact-driven delivery.
The workshop, supported by the World Bank through World Bank and implemented under the NG-CARES framework, is expected to strengthen institutional capacity and enhance service delivery in Plateau State’s public service system.
Nigeria’s economy grew by 4.43 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2026, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The latest growth rate is higher than the 4.23 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025 and represents an improvement from the 3.89 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2026.
The NBS disclosed this in its Gross Domestic Product Report for the second quarter of 2026, released on Monday.
The latest figure indicates that economic activity continued to expand during the quarter, extending a gradual recovery recorded over the past year.
Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.87 per cent in real terms in 2025, compared with 3.38 per cent in 2024, according to the NBS data.
The latest quarterly performance was also the strongest growth recorded since the third quarter of 2024, when the economy expanded by 3.86 per cent, based on the NBS quarterly series.
In nominal terms, the country’s GDP stood at ₦119.29 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, while real GDP was estimated at ₦53.47 trillion.
The improvement came as both the oil and non-oil sectors recorded stronger growth compared with the preceding quarter, although the contribution of the non-oil economy remained overwhelmingly dominant.
Services remain dominant
The services sector remained the largest contributor to Nigeria’s real GDP during the quarter, accounting for 56.62 per cent of total output.
It also recorded real growth of 4.60 per cent, up from 3.94 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2025.
Agriculture contributed 26.15 per cent to real GDP and grew by 4.39 per cent, a significant improvement from the 2.82 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2025.
The improvement in agriculture is notable, as the sector remains an important source of employment and income for millions of Nigerians, even as farmers continue to contend with insecurity, high input costs, climate-related pressures, and infrastructure constraints.
The industrial sector, however, recorded slower growth.
Industry grew by 3.96 per cent in the second quarter, compared with 7.46 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025. It accounted for 17.23 per cent of real GDP during the quarter.
The slowdown means that the stronger headline GDP figure was not reflected uniformly across all major sectors of the economy.
Oil production rises
Meanwhile, the oil sector recorded a stronger performance during the quarter, aided by higher crude oil production.
Nigeria’s average daily oil production rose to 1.72 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, from 1.55 million bpd in the first quarter of 2026.
Production was also higher than the 1.68 million bpd recorded in the second quarter of 2025.
The increase in production coincided with stronger growth in the oil sector.
The sector grew by 7.31 per cent year-on-year in real terms, compared with 2.57 per cent in the first quarter of 2026. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, oil-sector growth stood at 10.91 per cent.
Despite the improvement, oil remained a relatively small part of Nigeria’s overall economic output.
The sector contributed 4.16 per cent to real GDP in the second quarter, up from 4.05 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2025 and 3.92 per cent in the first quarter of 2026.
By contrast, the non-oil sector accounted for 95.84 per cent of real GDP.
The non-oil sector grew by 4.31 per cent in real terms during the quarter, compared with 3.64 per cent in the second quarter of 2025 and 3.94 per cent in the first quarter of 2026.
According to the NBS, agriculture, information and communication, real estate, trade, financial and insurance services, manufacturing and construction were among the activities that supported non-oil growth during the quarter.
Growth improves but remains moderate
The latest GDP figures suggest that Nigeria’s economy is gaining momentum, but the pace of expansion remains moderate relative to the country’s development needs.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has repeatedly set a target of achieving 7 per cent annual economic growth by 2027. The 4.43 per cent quarterly growth, therefore, remains below the pace required to reach that broader target if sustained annual growth is the benchmark.
The economy has nevertheless recorded a gradual improvement since the contraction and weak growth rates that characterised earlier years.
The annual growth rate rose from 0.95 per cent in 2021 to 4.32 per cent in 2022, before moderating to 3.04 per cent in 2023. It then increased to 3.38 per cent in 2024 and 3.87 per cent in 2025, according to the NBS data.
The latest figures, therefore, point to a continued, although still gradual, strengthening of economic activity.
READ ALSO: Three-year scorecard of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy
However, stronger GDP growth does not necessarily mean that households are immediately experiencing improved living standards.
GDP measures the value of goods and services produced in the economy and does not, on its own, show how income is distributed or whether households can afford basic goods and services.
For Nigerians, the impact of the latest expansion will ultimately depend on whether stronger economic activity translates into more jobs, higher incomes, increased investment and lower production and living costs.
The continued dominance of services and the improved performance of agriculture also highlight the growing importance of the non-oil economy to Nigeria’s growth story.
At the same time, the slowdown in industrial growth shows that challenges related to electricity, financing, infrastructure, logistics, and production costs continue to weigh on the productive sectors.
The latest NBS figures provide further evidence that the Nigerian economy is expanding faster than a year ago.
The bigger test, however, will be whether that growth can be sustained and broadened across productive sectors and translate into tangible improvements in Nigerians’ economic well-being.
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