13 Civil Servants Pocket N7.8m for Winning FG’s Innovation Contest

13 Civil Servants Pocket N7.8m for Winning FG’s Innovation Contest

The federal government has splashed a whooping N7,750,000 on 13 civil servants who emerged top in the “2023 Annual Federal Civil Service Competition”.

The civil servants were rewarded at an award ceremony in Abuja on Monday.

The innovation competition is a platform for civil servants to identify problems in the Service and proffer their ingenious solutions.

In this year’s competition, the 4th edition since its inception, a total of 203 submissions were received and collated, out of which 99 civil servants participated in the first round.

From this number, 28 qualified and participated in the second round. At the final round held on March 22nd March 2024, 14 contestants competed, from which three (3) top winning ideas emerged, with ten (10) other winners.

In her keynote address at the ceremony, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, HoCSF, observed that public service innovation is essential to keep up with the pace of global change.

“By investing and promoting a culture and ecosystem for innovation to thrive, the Public Service can retain and attract the best talents in a competitive labour market.

“Truly, you can bring out the best in civil servants at all levels when they are engaged and provided with the enabling environment to find expression in the work they do.

“This is why the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation remains committed to sustaining and strengthening the structures established to drive innovation in the public service which are in line with the policy thrust of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025 (FCSSIP25),” she said.

PRNigeria reports that the star prize winner got N3,000,000, while the first runner-up carted away N1,750,000), and the second runner–up smiled home with N1,000,000.

10 other innovators got N200,000 each as consolation prizes.