CATCHING UP WITH SINGAPORE
Ofem Uket writes that the federal civil service is eager to increase its productivity
The deadline for the ongoing Nigerian public service reforms by the present administration is billed for 2020, barely two years away from now. This clearly translates to the fact that the digitalisation of the civil service, training and capacity building, annual savings, performance management system and the entire process of reforms to stimulate growth in public sector regime must be fast tracked to meet the deadline.
The one week benchmark visit to Singapore and Malaysia by Nigerian government with federal and state delegations headed by the Head of Service of the Federation Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita is particularly targeted at drawing needed expertise and exchange of ideas of public service procedures and administration in countries with functional and effective civil service.
Oyo-Ita has not relented in ensuring that the development content of the public service reforms is not infiltrated, she has protected and defended every clause of implementation to ensure that government not only meets the deadline, but to effectively guarantee that the process is not compromised in any way.
However, the two countries visited have successfully completed their public administration strategy reforms to curb corruption, increase productivity and growth, having invested much in capacity building, human resource development and technology.
Historically, Nigeria, Malaysia and Singapore all had a few years’ differentials in self-rule around the late 50s and early 60s, but development in Nigeria is impeded by grand corruption and lack of political will to build sustainable institutions that are capable to bring about change.
During the visit, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita re-emphasised 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.
The visit was to benchmark the operations and functionality of public service administration through a study tour group of the federal government, heads of service in the states and federal and state permanent secretaries to the public service commission and public service department of Malaysia.
The Malaysia experience in the study tour by key officials responsible for the formulation and the charting of the course of governance in Nigeria is to understand how that country achieved its success story in public service administration. Mrs. Oyo-Ita commended the widened recruitment drive of the Malaysian government. According to her 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 viable and more dynamic methods of conducting employment procedures.
She was equally impressed by the encompassing requirements listed for recruitment into the public service, while acknowledging that the recruitment has been widened to encompass different areas of competence, which includes talent, physical fitness, leadership and aptitude tests and not just paper qualification.
The number one civil servant said the pensionable length of service pegged at three years is admirable because it allows for easy exit for officers who are not getting job satisfaction. The move according to her will 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.
Accordingly, the role of the civil service is the base and engine room for development of any nation, and therefore emphasised 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 visit afforded 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 tour was put together by the Public Service Institute of Nigeria under the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to strengthen federal government resolve in its various push to sanitise the public service and make it more productive in service delivery.
The members of the delegation include 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, chairmen of states civil service and permanent secretaries in the states.
This visit is one out of numerous study tours made by government at state and federal levels in the past; so what is important at this point is how this particular visit shall be translated into action in the ongoing public service reforms to strengthen capacity and change the face of public service administration. The leader of the delegation has demonstrated unwavering courage and commitment to the success of the reforms.