FG challenges civil servants to evolve new ideas

THE Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has tasked the nation’s civil service to evolve new ideas for effective delivery of service to the citizenry.

He noted the importance of the civil service, as the “most vital machinery through which government delivers its policies and programmes to its citizenry.”

He therefore called on civil service to continually evolve new ideas to solidify its role and boost its capacity as the main bridge between government and the citizenry.

According to him, this is necessary to deliver public goods in the most efficient, transparent and acceptable manner. The SGF gave the charge when he declared open the induction workshop for newly appointed permanent secretaries in Kano.

Mustapha emphasized that the development of the country’s economy and its competitiveness in the knowledge-driven global system requires professionalized and fully developed civil service that can support government to drive the transformation vision to the next level.

The acting Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, in her opening remarks, charged the permanent secretaries to restore the service to its original position of eminence and relevance.

She implored them to respond more to the challenges of governance and the present administration’s desire to diversify the economy and increase Nigeria’s revenue base.

According to Dr Yemi-Esan, permanent secretaries are key drivers of government operations. They are, therefore, mandated “to bring to the value chain of the civil service a participatory and professional administrative style which will promote and enhance service delivery while being conscious of the dynamics of public administration as we have it today.”

The Head of Civil Service also emphasized the need for permanent secretaries to take ownership of all reform programmes initiated by the government; especially the Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan recently initiated by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

She emphasized that the service-wide success of the initiative rests largely on how they are communicated to civil servants and the level of determination with which they are driven in all MDAs of government.

The induction programme had in attendance the SGF, Boss Mustapha, the acting Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi–Esan, retired Head of Service, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, retired Permanent Secretary, Dr Goke Adegoroye, Permanent Secretaries among others.