The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, has hinted on some new innovations to improve efficiency and service delivery in the Nigeria Public Service.
Mrs. Oyo-Ita who was one of the six (6) panelists at the 2018 Ibrahim Forum on ‘Public Service in 21st Century Africa’. ‘’Assessing the supply’’ made this revelation on Saturday, 28th April, 2018 in Kigali the Rwanda State capital.
The HCSF while responding to questions aimed at addressing the challenges faced by public services across Africa, said Nigeria Civil service is set to run on full automation and human capacity development for efficient service delivery.
‘’I would want to see a full automation of all our processes, documentations, staff personnel records, and more human capacity development to get Nigeria Civil Service moving in this 21st century’’.
‘’When you are operating a system where you have your records available, at the touch of a button, it is going to improve the issue of performance, discipline and even integrity’’, She added.
She also said, ‘’If you train an officer and he has confidence in himself and knows he is able to deliver, he is not likely to be easily manipulated’’.
While responding to the question on how to raise the morale of Public Service, the Head of Service said, when she came on board as the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, she introduced new innovations to foster integrity in the service and for the first time, civil servants in Nigeria, were forced to sit down and get to the root of their problem and come out with solutions that they believe would help them.
‘’So they immediately had the buy-in, in developing the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan; now we are working on a program that has been developed in-house; the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2017 -2020’’.
On bridging the gap between the old and new generation of Public Servants, the Head of Service said her Office has introduced mentoring programmes which involve bringing Retired Directors and Former HOS to anchor Induction programmes.
On safe work place for female workers, Mrs. Oyo-Ita said the Present Civil Service is a safe place where female employees can flourish without harassment. She added that 1 or 2 persons at present are undergoing disciplinary action, over female harassment in work place.
She also stated that as a way of encouraging personnels who want their impact to be felt and appreciated, her office under the capacity development program, has started talent sourcing, which is the first ever home-grown Federal Civil Service Reform Programme.
The session was hosted by Ngaire Woods, Dean, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University.
Other Panelists were Trevor Manuel, former Finance Minister, South Africa, Fanfan Rwanyindo Kayirangwa, Minister of Public Service and labour, Rwanda, Mr. Soji Solanke, MIF Scholar Nigeria, Betsy Williams, Founder and Board Chairman, Presidents Young Professionals Program of Liberia (PYPP), and Mariana Mazzucato, Founder and Director, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London(UCL).
