Olaopa, others to strengthen Africa’s public service

Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Nigeria, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, and the President, Association of African Public Service Commission (AAPSCOMS), and Chairman of the Civil Service Commission of the Republic of Zambia, Dr Choolwe Beyani, met in Abuja on Tuesday to discuss how to make public service in Africa respond to the demands of artificial intelligence and workforce flexibility.

While welcoming Beyani to FCSC in Abuja, Olaopa said the meeting was significant for the professionalisation of public service commissions on the continent.
According to him, the visit by Choolwe is a reminder of Nigeria’s prominent role in numerous regional bodies, a situation that President Bola Tinubu is gradually restoring.

Olaopa said the resolve of President Tinubu to give Nigeria its rightful place in Africa demanded that his lieutenants should follow suit in spirit and in truth.

Olaopa recalled his contact with AAPSCOMMS in 2006 or thereabout, at a seminar organised by the UN-ECA for public service commissioners across Africa where he delivered a paper.

Stressing the need to review the principles by which the public service in Africa has operated since the colonial days, Olaopa said: “All things considered, the CSC concept has undergone significant iterations that have created differentiated models across the Commonwealth of Nations. Indeed, the British CSC, which supplied the originating concept and framework, had itself witnessed significant rethinking, in a measure that compels African public services to do much more to bring extensive innovations and creativity to bear in reprofiling our different Service Commissions, so they do not become relics of history.”

Earlier, while appreciating the role of Nigeria as one of the pioneers of AAPSCOMS, which was established in 2008, Choolwe said the Public Service Commissions of Africa shared a common vision which is an effective engine of service delivery to create a better life for the citizens of the continent.

Noting that the next general assembly of AAPSCOMS would hold on September 24, 2024, Choolwe said the body was created to provide a common platform for the commissions to promote and share best practices among, others.