A plan to harness talented youths from different parts of the country as managers of the public service in line with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to build a government of national competence was stressed, yesterday, by the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa.
The former Permanent Secretary, and Professor of public administration, spoke when the Minister of Youths and Development, Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, visited him in his office. He noted the importance of having an inter-generational conversation, mentoring and education to build a new generation of leaders and public managers.
According to Olaopa, the evolving plan to reform the public service finds expression in two ways. One is that the rate of social progress that Nigeria would ever achieve depends on the degree to which political power and vision are matched with intelligence, policy, strategy and managerial acumen.
He said: “Professionalism in the civil service must start with the greater weight given to authority of knowledge and expertise over and above the known conventional considerations.
“And this will depend on how far we can go to restore competency-based human resources management practices. This is consistent with President Bola Tinubu’s aspiration to institute a government of national competence.”
