ACTING APPOINTMENTS AND ALLOWANCES
SECTION 1 - ACTING APPOINTMENT
SECTION 2 - ACTING ALLOWANCES
SECTION 1 - ACTING APPOINTMENT
When made
18101 - When it is necessary that a particular duty post (of status not lower than Grade Level 13) should continue to be filled at a time when no officer of corresponding substantive rank is available for posting thereto, some other officer other officer may, with the approval of the Civil Service Commission be formally appointed by notice in the gazette to act in the duty post and assume either fully or in part, the duties and responsibilities thereof.
Note made unless Necessary
18102 - The mere fact that the substantive holder of a duty post will be absent therefrom for a short period (I.e. on casual leave or on the Sick list) does not in itself justify an acting appointment; there may however be circumstances (such as compliance with statutory provisions) which necessitate the making of an acting appointment for a relatively brief period. The decision whether an acting appointment is necessary or desirable in any particular case will rest with the Abia State Civil Service Commission.
Not a form of trial promotion
18103 - Acting appointments are not intended as a means of testing the suitability of officers for promotion; they will normally be made only in order to fill posts that are temporarily vacant and their duration should be limited accordingly.
18104 - Recommendations for acting appointment must be forwarded to the Abia State Civil Service Commission on General Form No. GEN. 66 and must include thereon a Certificate to the effect that the acting officer will assume the full duties and responsibilities of the post in question. Approved acting appointments will be gazetted by the Abia State Civil Service Commission but it will on no account be back-dated to a period in excess of six months of the date of receipt of the recommendation by the Commission.
Date of commencement
18105 - The date on which an acting appointment commences will be indicated in the gazette notice authorizing the appointment. Normally, the gazetted date of commencement will be that on which the acting officer takes over the duties and responsibilities of the post, except that if he takes over from the substantive holder the gazetted date of commencement will be earlier than that on which the latter, after handing over;
- leaves the station or the post
- takes over substantively or himself commence to act in another post in the same station, or
- commences vacation leave in the same station, whichever is applicable according to circumstances.
Date of Cessation
18106 - The date on which an acting appointment ceases will be indicated in the gazette notice reverting the officer's appointment normally, the gazetted date of cessation will be that on which the acting officer relinquishes the duties and responsibilities of the post, except that if he hands over to the substantive holder, the gazetted date of cessation will not normally be later than the date on which the letter, before taking over
- arrives in the state
- ceases to hold substantively or to act in another post in the same station, whichever is applicable according to circumstances.
Ministries shall be required to notify the Abia State Civil State Civil Service Commission when officers revert from acting appointments by completion of form No. Gen 15A which shall be forwarded not less than two weeks before cessation of the acting appointment.
Effect of Casual or Special Leave
18107 - An acting officer will not be regarded as relinquishing the duties and responsibilities of his acting appointment by proceeding on casual or special leave within the country, provided he spends such leave in Nigeria (or on a Sea voyage between Nigerian ports) and provided it is not necessary during any such leave to appoint another officer to act in the duty post in question.
SECTION 2-ACTING ALLOWANCES
When payable
18201 - An officer duly gazetted as acting is eligible for acting allowance at the appropriate rate specified in Rule 18202 and 18203 whichever is applicable from the gazetted date of commencement of his acting appointment to the date immediately preceding the gazetted date of termination thereof (both dates inclusive), except for any days in excess of 14 days of continuous absence from duty on account of ill-health. No allowances will be paid if the period of acting appointment does not extend beyond 14 days.
Rates of Acting Allowance
18202 –
- When an officer has been recommended to act in a grade immediately higher than his own, he will be regarded as adequately performing the full duties of the higher post and shall be entitled to 100 percent acting allowance after he has served at least two years in his substantive grade.
- An officer is required to serve for at least one year in his substantive rank before he is eligible to draw 50 percent acting allowance in respect of the post immediately higher than his own.
- When an officer has been requested to act in a post two or more grades above his substantive rank, the maximum amount of acting allowance which he may receive, will be calculated as the difference between the salary of his substantive appointment and the salary of the post immediately superior to his own.
- An officer who is acting in a grade higher than his own but who has not served for at least one year in his substantive rank shall not be entitled to any acting allowance.
Effects of acting appointment on allowance
18203 - Where a gazetted acting appointment requires an officer to discharge simultaneously the duties of more than one office, the following rules shall apply:
- If the two offices are distinct and separate offices in different departments, they do not stand to one another in any immediate relation of superiority or sub-ordination, the rate of acting allowance payable will be fixed at an appropriate amount not exceeding half the minimum basic salary of the post (or, if both are held on acting appointments, of the higher of the two);
- If the two offices stand to one another in immediate relation of superiority or subordination no acting allowance will be payable unless one of them is higher than the acting officer's substantive post, in which event the rate of acting allowance payable will be in accordance with Rule 18202.
The effect on certain special remuneration
**18204 **- Where either the acting officer's substantive posts or the post in which he is acting is associated with some special form of remuneration (i.e other than basic salary, inducement addition, or temporary addition to-rates of pay), the effect of such remuneration on the acting allowance payable will be governed by such rules as may be specified by the Government in relation to such remuneration.
Officers receiving personal allowances
18205 – If an officer is in receipt of a personal allowance in addition to the normal emoluments of his substantive office, such personal allowance will be treated as part of his substantive basic salary for the purpose of calculating acting allowance.
Contract officers and re- engaged Pensioners
18506 - The substantive basic Salary of a contract officer or re-engaged pensioner will, for the purpose of calculating acting allowance in accordance with Rule 18202, be taken as the officer's actual basic salary less contract addition.
Consolidated Salary
18207 - In the case where an officer eligible for inducement addition in a long scale is acting in a super-scale office with a consolidated basic salary, the rate of acting allowance payable will be calculated at the rate of the difference between the consolidated salary of the higher office and the basic salary plus the inducement addition associated with the lower post.