At National Council on Establishments meeting, HOS tasks civil service on manpower development for effective service delivery.

From the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

 The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji has said that there is the need for public service managers to design ways of ensuring that our Civil Services possess the appropriate number and quality of manpower in terms of capacity, knowledge, skills and attitudes to help the Government drive its vision for the transformation of Nigeria into a modern society.

The Head of Service said this at the opening of the 38th Meeting of the National Council on Establishments (NCE), held in Ilorin, Kwara State.

While speaking further, Aji said that the Civil Service exists to assist the Government to evolve and promote effective programmes and policies for the improvement of our society and the happiness of our people.  To achieve this, the top echelon of the Civil Service, he said, must have the courage to recognize merit, experience and character, and also to inculcate in all strata of our workforce, positive values of performance and achievement orientation.

The Head of Service also said that the scheme of services, as instruments of career management, must constantly be fine-tuned as situations demand, to reflect current and emerging skills, knowledge and competences required for the arduous task of propelling the Civil Service to be a modern engine of growth and development.

Alhaji Goni Aji informed Council on some of the recent developments in the Federal Civil Service.  According to him, “As we continue to review and evaluate our systems, structures and processes in the Federal Civil Service, to bring them in tune with global standards, my Office,  has continued and indeed  strengthened its partnership and engagement with our development partners, particularly the Department for International Development (DFID) of the U.K. towards a holistic review of the structure and functions of my office and the MDA’s to eliminate areas of overlaps and duplication, and reduce wastages for better performance.”

The outcome of the exercise, he said, led to the identification of a new set of vision, mission and re-alignment of offices, as well as review of processes, aimed at refocusing the Office to effectively discharge its mandate of providing leadership for the Civil Service, and eliminate impediments in the transaction cycle.

He also stated that in collaboration with the Federal Public Administration Reform Programme (FEPAR), his Office is presently working on a suitable and appropriate Performance Management System for the Federal Civil Service.  This is been done in collaboration with the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), National Planning Commission (NPC), relevant stakeholders and potential users of the Performance Management framework.  “It is expected that when in place, the system will provide a robust and SMART measure of individual worker performance, and link same to assigned milestones/targets, as well as the attainment of the mandates/goals of our organizations/MDAs.”

Whe he was declaring the Council meeting open, the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed called on the Civil Service to live up to its responsibility by putting itself in a vantage position to provide useful advice to the political class for the attainment of the laudable goal of transforming the society.

He called on the National Council on Establishments, as the body responsible for ensuring uniformity and standard in the public service to make resolutions that will greatly improve the public service and guarantee the desired growth and development in Nigeria.

The National Council on Establishments is a consultative body for the Governments of the Federation on matters pertaining to general establishment matters, including salary structure, grading, conditions and schemes of service, as well as productivity improvement, within the limits set by the Governments of the Federation.  In addition, the Council is responsible for the harmonization of extant procedures and practices in the public services at both the Federal and State levels.

The Council is therefore a veritable platform for effective and periodic exchange of ideas and experiences, between and among our various officials and Governments. It’s membership consists the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation as Chairman and Heads of the Civil Service from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory Administration.