The Taraba State Government has explained the deduction made from the January salaries of civil servants, saying the funds were meant to cover the cost of producing Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) forms.
The clarification was contained in a statement issued on Monday in Jalingo after a meeting with the Joint Council. The statement was signed 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 workers’ salaries. He noted that the deduction was not a new policy, recalling that a similar exercise was carried out in January 2024.
According to him, many civil servants had developed the habit of neglecting the mandatory annual completion of APER forms, only filling them when due for promotion. He said the practice had negatively affected efficiency and proper performance evaluation within the civil service.
The permanent secretary further disclosed that civil servants were often exploited in the process of obtaining APER forms, with some officers paying as much as N5,000 per form, while the government lost potential revenue. He added that some individuals also 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 official production of genuine APER forms, which will now be centrally produced and distributed to all civil servants.
He emphasised that the annual completion of APER forms is mandatory for proper grading and performance evaluation of officers. He added that in 2024, the governor approved the free production and distribution of APER forms as a palliative to ease the burden on workers.
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