HCSF HARPS ON A MERIT-BASED CIVIL SERVICE

HCSF HARPS ON A MERIT-BASED CIVIL SERVICE

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, has reiterated the need for a merit-based Civil Service through a seamless e-recruitment system, which will guarantee transparency, accountability, neutrality, efficiency, as well as productivity.

She said this while receiving an Interim Report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Design of Appropriate Capacity Building Programmes for Directorate Level Officers in the Federal Civil Service.

Dr. Yemi-Esan noted that the low-capacity output of Officers on the Directorate cadre is a serious issue for concern to the Federal Government, hence, the inauguration of this all-important Committee, in November, 2021, adding that “in the last two years, the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission gives report to this Office, after every promotion exercise and each time he puts it on record that the capacity of Directorate Officers is fast dwindling.” The dearth of skills and competencies has made it very challenging to get competent Directors that will become Permanent Secretaries, “the last exercise recently conducted for the selection of Permanent Secretaries broke my heart and back completely, it was an eye opener.”

The crux of the Committee’s assignment is to proffer solutions for transforming the Directorate cadre workforce through the formulation of well-designed and articulated capacity building programmes aimed at bridging this yearning gap. She added that even first-class graduates and those recruited under the Presidential High Flyers’ Scheme undergo proper training and retraining for enhanced performance. In this vein, the 2023 Directorate examinations will be based on the training modules to be proposed by this Committee, she further disclosed.

The HCSF also stated that the bane of the Nigerian Civil Service is majorly political interference. She disclosed that in an interactive session during a recent visit to India, she asked her Indian counterpart the secret of the success of their civil service being adjudged as the best in the world. He pointedly informed her that their civil service is purely merit-based with zero interference from political office holders.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Committee and the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Funds Office, Dr. Habiba Lawal, described the constitution of the Committee as one of the best decisions taken in recent times to address the perennial challenge of low capacity within the Directorate Level Officers.

“I strongly believe that by strengthening the Directorate Level, we are evidently transforming the entire workforce because they are the coaching and mentorship group for their subordinate Officers and as the saying goes, “you can’t give what you don’t have.”

According to her, two major findings of the Committee include the absence of a comprehensive service-wide policy on capacity building, which has left the Service without a statutory framework on the training of Officers. Secondly, as long as recruitment into the service is not strictly based on merit, the service will not have the best hands at entry level, and as such the service will not move forward as expected, she opined.

Dr. Lawal also mentioned that a 7-man Module Review Sub-Committee headed by the Administrator, Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, (ASCON), Mrs Cecilia Gayya, has been constituted to develop training modules, which will include the preparation of training needs assessment, time, resources and technical expertise and make final submission to the main Committee, after which a final report will be submitted to the HCSF.

She also disclosed that there are about 29 findings and 41 recommendations in the Interim Report, submitted, with proposed strategies, action plan and timelines for implementation.

The Committee comprises sixteen (16) members; five (5) serving Permanent Secretaries, two Retired Permanent Secretaries, Four (4) Directors and Two Directors-General of Training Institutes and a representative of African Initiative for Governance (AIG) -Imoukhuede Foundation.

 

 

M.A. Ahmed

Deputy Director, Communications

7th April, 2022