THE Federal Government has called on the heads of parastatals and agencies of government to embrace innovation while also ensuring probity and accountability in the management of resources allocated to them.
Acting Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, spoke on Thursday at a public service innovation conference organised for Federal Permanent Secretaries, Directors-General/Chief Executive Officers of Agencies/Parastatals and Heads of Tertiary Institution in the country.
She lamented that the Nigeria public service was lagging far behind and called for a change of attitude and mindset in the conduct of government business.
She said, “as chief executives, you need to ensure and sustain improved transparency, accountability, and prudence in the management of public funds through the establishment of stronger links between budgeting and planning for the completion of projects and infrastructure particularly in critical sectors of the economy upon which the success of government’s agenda depends.”
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She urged them to support the ongoing coordinated policy response of the Administration by promoting policies and reforms that would fast-track sustainable economic growth.
“This, you can achieve by investing more in human capital development and innovative solutions to create value, better performance, and improved service delivery,” she said.
Yemi-Esan noted that the maiden edition of the conference which was organised by her Office, with the theme, “Creating Opportunities by Leveraging Innovation for Effective Public Service Delivery and Diversification of the Economy” was apt in view of the critical role the public service in the transformation process of the country.
She disclosed that available figures by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), indicated that the Oil and Gas Sector contributes about 9 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while the non-oil sector accounts for 91.18 percent.
She said implied that while the petroleum industry is crucial to the nation’s economy in view of the fact that revenues still rely heavily on the sector, it only accounts for a small part of the country’s overall economic growth.
According to her, the aspirations of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, to improve the livelihood of Nigerians through diversification of the nation’s economy, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) was launched, adding this has set the country on the path to growth, stability and prosperity post-recession.
Accordingly, the Acting Head of Service said while the priorities of the ERGP centered on power and infrastructure development, employment, good governance, food security, and industrialization, it also identified the sound macroeconomic environment and an efficient public sector as being critical to long-term growth.
“Consequently, the public sector as the key driver of socio-economic development in the country cannot afford to relegate its responsibility, but it must be alive and proactive in carrying out its functions for improved service delivery.
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“It is for this purpose among other objectives that this conference was organized for the top echelons in the public sector,” she said.
She recalled that a two-day training on “Radical Innovation” was organised for civil servants across the service, adding that the training which was facilitated by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States with the support of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) was packaged to equip the participants with requisite skills and knowledge to drive innovation in the public sector.
She noted that the training was also aimed at exposing civil servants to some of the salient features of contemporary innovation and to lay out the philosophy, tools, procedures, and incentives that organizations especially those in the Public Sector can adopt to drive innovation.
She further noted that the conference organised to consolidate on the gains of the training and set the direction for effective institutionalization of innovation culture in the public service.
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