CIPM seeks governmet support on public sector certification

The Chairman, Lagos State Branch of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Chidinma Obiejesi, has urged government to assist in ensuring that CIPM certification becomes a vital condition for employment, promotion, upgrade and salary increase in public sector.

Speaking at the 16th yearly conference of the Institute in Badagry, Lagos, she noted that government is the highest employer of labour in the country, hence accrediting the certification of CIPM will bring professionalism to the public sector.

She added that with the current development in the management of human resources, professionals in that field in Nigeria must move from hiring and firing to enabling, empowering and creating the right people experiences; “from being the ‘police’ of the organization to the coaches, mentors, and thought leaders, from maintaining status quo to positively disrupting status quo; from not technologically advanced to using technology to drive business outcomes.”

Speaking on what informed the theme of the conference: ‘HR: The Future Today’, she stated that ‘there have always been conversation around what HR would be in the future, she expressed further that the Branch have even had conferences on themes that focused on this. We then realized that suddenly, the things we were discussing then are already happening around us.

“For instance, in the work place, the dressing was suit but nowadays you see people coming to office in shorts, locks; unusual gender issues are coming up and the work style and environment is changing etc. That means the future we were talking about is already happening. We are now discussing managing those things that were in our imagination but have suddenly become a reality.”On addressing quackery in the industry, Obiejesi said HR license is the solution to this.

According to her “we don’t just give our license to anybody, except they meet our standards and are qualified. We are also thinking of creating awareness and enlightening the public on what to look out for in HR practitioners and consultants.”

Concerning outsourcing, she said “outsourcing has come to stay in Nigeria as in other parts of the world but there need to be proper framework as we have noted that there are lots of unwholesome practices in that field.”

The conference also featured thought provoking master classes, plenary sessions, workshops and practical sessions. Among the topics treated are: Ethics and Corporate Governance in the Workplace; The Future Today, Talent Management and the future World of Work, among others.

The conference was also an opportunity for the Branch to launch the maiden edition of its Tertiary Institute Advocacy project. This is a project geared towards bringing CIPM to prospective human resource managers, still in the tertiary institute and making positive and lasting impact on their career development.