The Council of Retired Federal Permanent Secretaries (CORFEPS) has pledged to partner with the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) in a bid to improve the nation’s public service.

The group made the pledge when its top officials, led by former Defence Minister, Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the FCSC, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, in his office in Abuja.

Ahmed, who was also at different times the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said that the purpose of the visit was for CORFEPS to reaffirm its commitment to partnering with the FCSC on the development of the public service and congratulate Olaopa and others on their appointments.

The former defence minister described Olaopa as civil service personified and as central to past public service reforms under the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He recalled how highly Nigeria’s civil service was regarded in the past, saying that in those days, when top officials of the civil service travelled to New Zealand, Australia, London, Singapore and African countries, the civil service in Nigeria was highly respected.

He also said that Nigeria was considered the voice of Africa.

Ahmed said that reforms in the nation’s public service had led to the Police Service Commission being removed from the Public Service Commission before the latter became the FCSC, lamenting that since then, the civil service had been plagued by many challenges.

Besides, he said that ethics had been eroded, and the curricula to imbue future civil servants with the right character in the university and prepare them for public service had been non-existent.

He, therefore, said that what is obtained in the universities is only learning without character.

According to him, for people to learn to be public servants, there must be an atmosphere of trust and confidence and the ability to be out of want so that they would not compromise their principles, adding that the proliferation of organisations and approving institutions has increased personnel cost.

He, however, said that the budgets meant to improve the well-being of civil servants in terms of salaries and other benefits were being used to do other things, noting that for a viable civil service, there should be improved remuneration, merit and a well-applied federal character.

Ahmed, therefore, urged the chairman of the FCSC and his commissioners to discharge their duties with a sense of patriotism.