ABUJA(Sundiata Post) – Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, yesterday, threatened to sanction directors and heads of departments (HODs) who do not meet up their target.
Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, who handed the threat to the staff, during a hybrid training programme on the use and management of the newly-created official email accounts for staff of the ministry, for the purpose of official correspondence, maintained that
the HoDs would sign their performance contract with him soon, and sanctions would be meted out to the HoDs, that are not active on the official email address.
The Permanent Secretary urged the staff to execute tasks within their schedule to the best of their abilities as the ratings from their performances when evaluated would contribute to their scores during promotions.
“We are commencing Performance Management System (PMS) and any strikes gotten in the reporting year will affect your scores and ratings, and ultimately affect your promotion” he notified.
He advised about the importance of the use of the official email address as well as visit the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) self portal, adding that they would also form part of assessment for the PMS.
The Permanent Secretary further encouraged the staff to visit the recently-launched virtual learning platform by the Office of the Head of Service, to learn and take courses that will improve their careers.
Earlier, the director in charge of the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) department, Marcus Amiolemen, told the participants that the essence of the training was to ensure that everybody knows how to effectively use the staff official email account created for the staff using their username.
He explained that the creation of an official email address that is domain specific for government businesses was the directive of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, adding the official email address gives the staff the ministry’s identity.
He informed that the URL of the official email for the ministry is https://mail.fmud.gov.ng/owa. or alternatively, through the staff email option on the menu bar of the ministry’s web portal https://mhud.gov.ng.
The director educated the participants on the importance of the country’s identity which is .gov.ng, on the international gateway, adding that all official communications must use official emails that come with the domain name for identity purposes.
On the security of email accounts, Amiolemen gave assurance that the accounts are fully secured as it is being managed by Galaxy Backbone, a company with a proven track record in ICT in Nigeria, adding the site is also designed to identify and filter unsolicited emails.
In a statement, Amiolemen, while informing the participants that a total of 520 official email addresses has been created for staff of the ministry since the directive from the Head of Service sadly noted that more than 75 per cent of the email addresses were not yet in use.
He warned that the email accounts were designed to be automatically deactivated and licence retrieved by Galaxy Backbone, the managers of the exchange platform, if not used within a period of 90 days.
Amiolemen also demonstrated practical steps through slides, on how to navigate the platform, while also appealing to the staff to visit the ministry’s web portal so as to be kept abreast of happenings in the ministry.
