THE Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said that the Commission will enlist Abia as a pilot state in the implementation of its five-year strategic plan (2026-2030).

The FCSC strategic plan is to reform Nigeria’s civil service by enhancing merit-based recruitment, implementing performance-driven promotions, and using digital transformation.

Its six pillars include strengthening institutional independence, introducing competitive digital recruitment, linking promotions to performance, automating Human Resources (HR), embedding ethical governance, and ensuring inclusivity and equity. The plan aims to professionalise the civil service, improve efficiency, and position it to support a $1 trillion economy.

Olaopa disclosed the decision to involve Abia as a pilot state in the plan when he paid a courtesy visit to Governor Alex Otti yesterday as part of the programme for the 44th Annual National Council of Civil Service Commissions holding in Abia.
Olaopastated that making Abia a partner had become necessary in light of the remarkable professionalism demonstrated by the Chairman of the State Civil Service Commission (CSC), Pastor Eno Jerry, in hosting the 2025 national council.

He noted that this is also due to the professionalism he previously observed during Eno’s presentation of Abia State’s institutional reform as a case study at the AAPSCOMMS Conference in Nairobi in 2024, as well as the core HR expertise she has brought to her office as chair of the Commission in Abia.

Describing Otti as a performing governor, Olaopa said that he appreciated him for the indescribable passion he had demonstrated in hosting the 2025 National Council of the Civil Service Commissions of the federation.

“I must say that the interest and the labour of love are not misplaced. And with such a remarkable professional as chair of the Abia State CSC, the least we should do will be for the Council to enlist Abia State as one of the pilot partner-states in the implementation of the strategic plan which the FCSC just developed to inspire a national movement to transform the civil service commissions into hubs of HR professionalism and expert nodal point of HR advisory to governments in Nigeria,” he said.

Olaopa further said that at a personal level, and as part of a natural desire to be familiar with his environment, he had tried to decode two brand emblems of Abia, which are “Umuahia_Ibeku and Abia, the God’s own state.”