Nearly two decades after Nigeria’s sweeping public service reforms displaced thousands of federal workers, the Federal Government has renewed its commitment to bringing long-delayed relief to affected personnel, declaring that almost all verified entitlements have now been settled and that full closure of outstanding cases is expected before the end of 2026.
This assurance was given on Monday in Gombe by the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dasuki Arabi, during a high-level inter-agency verification exercise for no fewer than 600 former staff of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) in the North-East who were rightsized during the 2004–2007 public service reforms but are yet to receive their benefits.
Arabi explained that the verification exercise is part of a broader federal effort to finally resolve one of the most protracted labour-related legacies of the reforms, which saw large-scale restructuring, redeployment, and disengagement across ministries, departments, and agencies.
“We are here in Gombe with a team of public servants from critical federal institutions to ascertain and verify federal government officials that were rightsized as a result of the 2006–2007 public service reforms,” Arabi said.
He noted that although the reforms were implemented almost 20 years ago, the failure to promptly settle entitlements left many former public servants in prolonged hardship.
“Unfortunately, all these years, we have not been able to settle their entitlements. Quite a number of them have not been paid,” he said.
According to him, the current exercise is being carried out in collaboration with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and other relevant agencies to ensure transparency and credibility.
Arabi said the Federal Government has, however, recorded remarkable progress in recent years, citing the successful settlement of entitlements for former staff of the Nigeria Immigration Service as a major milestone.
“If you recall, in the last two years we came here to verify the staff of the Nigeria Immigration Service, and we are glad to say that all of them have been paid 100 per cent,” he stated.
He attributed the renewed momentum to the support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing the payments as a demonstration of political will and compassion.
“We remain grateful to the President and Commander-in-Chief, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for making it possible for us to clear those outstandings that have stayed quite long, and for extending the hand of friendship to other victims of such exercises,” Arabi said.
The BPSR Director-General described the NEPC verification exercise in Gombe as the final major phase of the long-running process.
“Now we are here to verify Nigerian Export Promotion Council, and we are hoping that immediately we finish this, all of them will be paid,” he said.
Providing an update on nationwide progress, Arabi disclosed that payments to eligible beneficiaries are virtually complete.
“The Bureau of Public Service Reforms, as the central agency managing this exercise, is proud to inform and announce to Nigeria that we have virtually cleared 99.9 per cent of everybody that needs to be paid,” he said.
He acknowledged that a few cases were delayed due to legal disputes but noted that these have largely been resolved.
“We had a few cases that were taken to court, but we’ve been able to get them settled out of court,” he added.
Although exact figures were not immediately available, Arabi insisted that the number of outstanding cases is insignificant.
“In terms of numbers, I don’t know the exact details, but you’ll be able to extract the figures from my team that are here. But when we say 99, we mean 99,” he stressed.
Responding to concerns about alleged unpaid entitlements in the judicial sector, Arabi clarified that the ongoing verification exercise has no connection to judges or judicial officers.
“This is completely different from judges. This was about the public service reforms of 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007,” he explained.
He further outlined how the reforms were implemented, noting that while some officers were redeployed or converted to new roles, others were disengaged after failing qualifying examinations.
“Some were converted from secretary to data officer. Those that failed to pass the exams and upgrade themselves were asked to drop by the side,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Arabi assured Nigerians that all lawful entitlements would be honoured.
“On behalf of the Federal Government, everybody that has any entitlement concerning pensions, gratuity and other payments—I am assuring Nigerians that government is doing something about it and it will be paid,” he said.
He acknowledged the difficulty of tracing some beneficiaries and next-of-kin after such a long time.
“We can’t fully trust the beneficiaries, and sometimes we can’t even trust the next of kin, not because we don’t want to, but because it’s been almost 20 years,” he said.
Giving an example, Arabi noted that some agencies lost contact with disengaged staff who relocated.
“The Forest Research Institute, for instance, had a staff from Michika in Adamawa State who was disengaged. They don’t have contact with him, and he doesn’t have contact with them,” he said.
To address this, he said the government carried out nationwide sensitisation through Radio Nigeria, newspapers, and collaboration with the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD).
Arabi concluded with an optimistic timeline:
“It is my hope and my prayer that everybody will be paid before December 2026. Our target is simple, everybody should be paid.”
Beneficiaries at the exercise welcomed the initiative. Yagana Kalama, who was rightsized in 2005, said she now works with a state government.
“I worked at Maiduguri Zonal office, I’m here for the verification. Twenty years ago I worked at the NEPC. I came to do my verification. I want to appreciate the President for remembering our efforts while in service,” she said.
Another beneficiary from Adamawa State, Mohammed Abubakar, expressed optimism.
“We were disengaged about 20 years ago. We are happy and we appreciate the government, BPSR, for this exercise. Some of our colleagues who were not doing well, I’m sure will be able to do better,” he said.
