A Federal government delegation led by the Head of the Federal Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, is currently understudying the public service model of Malaysia with a view to extrapolating the best practices.
Oyo-Ita, who reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to reposition the Nigerian Civil Service for a better and more efficient service delivery in line with the change agenda of the present administration, said the study tour would further enhance the ongoing efforts of the government in that direction.
She spoke during the visit of the benchmarking and study tour group of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Heads of Service in the States and Federal and State Permanent Secretaries to the Public Service Commission and Public Service Department of Malaysia.
This was contained in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja by the Director, Media and Public Relations, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Olawunmi Ogunmosunle.
The one week benchmarking and study visit is from Monday, 2nd July to Saturday, 7th July 2018. Participants will visit select institutions in Malaysia and Singapore.
The visit would afford the Nigerian delegation the opportunity to interact, share experiences and explore areas of partnership aimed at improving the Nigerian Civil Service and possibly sign partnerships agreements in the areas of capacity building and training, talent management, performance management, innovation, culture change and Human Resources Management system and process automation.
The Head of the Civil Service said the visit to Malaysia by key officials responsible for the formulation and the charting of the course of governance in Nigeria is to understand how Malaysia achieved its success story in public service administration.
She commended the widened recruitment drive of the Malaysian Government noting the online recruitment which has made it possible for Malaysian graduates all over the world to apply for employment from anywhere in the world and track the progress of their application which is valid for one year is a good innovation.
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She said she was equally impressed by the encompassing requirements listed for recruitment into the public service.
She was impressed that the recruitment has been widened to encompass different areas of competence, including talent, physical /fitness, leadership and aptitude tests and not just paper qualification.
Mrs Oyo-Ita said the pensionable length of service pegged at three (3) years is admirable because it allows for easy exit for officers who are not getting job satisfaction.
The move according to her would make for a vibrant service which will be populated with people who are interested in the job and are determined to make a career in the service.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation reiterated the role of the Civil Service as the base and engine room for development of any nation while emphasising the need to expose the relevant people to drive the process to the best practices as it obtains in some countries.
The places visited in Malaysia include Office of the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia, Mr Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, Public Service Commission and Public Service Department of Malaysia, National Institute of Public Information Administration (INTAN) and leading Public Service Agencies.
The tour was organized by the Public Service Institute of Nigeria under the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
The members of the delegation include the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita as Chairman, Chairman, House Committee on Public Service, Honorable Gogo Bright Tamuno, Federal Permanent Secretaries, the Administrator /Chief Executive Officer of the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, the Director General of Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, Heads of Service in the States of the Federation, Chairmen of States Civil Service and Permanent Secretaries in the States of the Federation.
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