CHAPTER 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION: This chapter introduces and presents the baseline of the thesis. It provides an overview of the study and the important issues that will be discussed and investigated 1.2 RATIONAL/THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: Personnel Information System is a computer based system for the maintenance of the service registers of individuals in an organization. According to Hicks and Gullet (19974; 316), "An information system may be defined as an organized way of sending, receiving and recording messages". Traditionally, personnel record for federal public servants of any organization in a country like ours are held in three places namely: Open and secret register of the organization at the headquarters for all the staff of the organization in the nation. The state offices for all the staff in each particular state and local government area offices for staff posted to the local government area where applicable.
There are also operational departmental records for staff at the headquarters and states head offices. This, however, led to duplication, fragmentation and inconsistencies in records of staff. Whereas, a firm's information system should be unified, there should be no contradictions, no overlaps, and no gaps.
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Information needed by many departments should be collected by one source, stored and made available to any section of the organization that needs it (Unamka and Ewurum 1995; 329). Therefore, the Data are inaccurate and thus unreliable as a basis for decision making. Unamka and Ewurum (1995; 329) say, "Unless a manager has the correct information at the right time, he is unlikely to make the right decision". Since the data are inaccurate and unreliable, the information generated therein is of low quality and decisions taken likely to be wrong in confirmation to; "The higher the quality of the information, the better the result of the decision Eating" (Unamka and Ewurum 1995; 329). For instant, the name of a deceased local government area staff may continue to be appearing in the register or nominal roll of the organization at the quarters years after the staff demise, whereas his/her name has been removed from the state register or nominal roll list. Secondly, there are cases where officers obtained additional qualification beside the ones they were employed with, but these qualifications are not accredited to them at the headquarters whereas they have them at their states office files. Another case is where a couple of staff were employed at the same time, place on the same grade level and step and posted to different states, but few years later, the officers started earning different amount of
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money as salaries because of one manipulation or the other. Thus data gathering and updating are subject to delay or worse when files are lost. Though the existing manual system of recording information is useful, however, with the development of PERSONNEL INFORMATION SYSTEM (PIS) software, personnel records will be simultaneously integrated and rationalized. It should then be seen as a route to eradicating all the problems of manual method of handling records through the creation of a single system that would provide accurate information to all in a time and cost efficient manner. According to Unamka and Ewurum (1995; 329), "Information that is useful in business should be accurate and timely". With Personnel Information System (PIS), the details pertaining to personnel postings, qualifications, departmental test passed, training attended, family details, etc are stored in this system. With the help of nice friendly graphical interface, retrieval of information is possible based on any individual or on collective information grouped by certain categories. These categories could be designation, retirement time, length of service, place of work or location, etc. Thus the issue of ghost workers, hiding of files, falsification of records, and other vices that are often associated with manual system will be things of the past. Therefore, Personnel Information System is very much in need for every organization.
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1.2.4 BRIEF HISTORY OF NATIONAL POPULATION COMMISSION (NPopC): The present National Population Commission was established in April 1988 by the legal instrument creating it (Decree No.23 of 1989). The Commission is made up of the board members headed by the chairman and 37 federal commissioners, one each from all the states of the federation and federal capital territory. Also on the board is the Director General (DG) who happens to be the accounting officer of the commission. The board also has appointed secretary called the secretary to the commission, who oversees the secretariat of the commission. The board has the responsibility to formulate policies as directed by the federal government, while the core civil servants are saddled with the responsibilities to carry out the policies. The commission in other to carry out its functions effectively has eight departments and each department is headed by a director. The departments are • ADMIN AND SUPPLY • CARTOGRAPHY • CENSUS • FINANCE AND ACCOUNTS • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY • PLANNING AND RESEARCH
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• PUBLIC AFFAIRS • VITAL REGISTRATION The commission has its headquarters in Abuja and offices in all states capitals of the federation including the federal capital territory. It also has offices in the 774 local government areas of the country. Presently, the total staff strength of the commission is about five thousand. The personnel information gathering, processing and management of all the staff of the commission is carried out by the Admin and Supply department. According to Unarnka and Ewurum (1995; 135), "Personnel Management also called human resource management is the management of people at work. That also refers to the functions and operations of a single department of the corporation which has the responsibility and authority to select and train personnel". This department in order to carry out the complex challenges of managing human resources is subdivided into divisions to enhance efficiency. The divisions are as follows: