Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has offered insight into why the federal civil service should have professional human resource officers.

He spoke in Abuja at the launch of the scheme to professionalise the human resource function in the service. Olaopa applauded Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, for organising the programme, which, according to him, would trigger “the much-desired shift from personnel administration, which historically has been the core duty of generalist administrative officers, to strategic and professionalised human resource management (HRM).”

He noted that the scheme had been a significant item of administrative reform since 2003 in the federal service, stating that its gestation period had been long.

Observing the imperative of the initiative, Olaopa said its being introduced late was better than never, adding: “As the professionalisation of HR function, and therefore management, is an irreducible catalyst to, not just the re-professionalisation of the entire federal service itself, but is a condition precedent to the much-desired transformation of the public administration profession in Nigeria.”

Stressing the significance of the occasion, the FCSC boss said it was an acknowledgement that “HRM has a body of knowledge, skills, and procedures involved in its practice as a vocation, that have not been fully embraced in the civil service. In other words, going forward, for any federal officer to function in the HR department of any of our MDAs, he or she must have received formal education and training, including a period of pupillage or internship spent learning the HR craft from an expert as the basis for wearing the badge of certification and professionalism.”

He continued: “Two, the federal service today endorses the irreducible fact that there is a human resource perspective to the public administration praxis. One that only an HR professional with scientific knowledge, and a comprehensive understanding of the legal and regulatory codes of HR practice, including the codes of professional ethics, prescribed minimum standards of professional services permissible by regulators, can offer.

“Three, today, the federal service has chosen to partner with the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), as the legitimate and recognised regulatory body for HR practice in Nigeria, to profile, prepare and confer the badge of certification on HR managers in the federal service.”

According to Olaopa, the FCSC, in its drive to upgrade and to transform into the hub for HR professionalism and HRM advisory for the Federal Government, is a critical stakeholder in this journey. He said the civil service looks forward to CIPM, to provide the much-desired technical support, to train cohorts of pioneer HR core professionals for the federal service.

“We will also work with CIPM to develop required tools and instruments, such as the competency framework and catalogue for HR managers, standard operating procedures (SOP), and guidelines for setting up and managing HR department and function, etc. and other requirements to standardise and institutionalise HR function and practice as a professional domain, going forward,” he added.

In her opening remarks, Walson-Jack noted that what the federal civil service had embarked on was a shift from the traditional HR practice to a modern one.

While noting that human resource management should not be mistaken for personnel management, she said what they were doing was not just about certification, but also about redesigning HR practice in the public service.

Walson-Jack assured HR officers in the civil service not to view the reform as an imposition that might endanger their careers, but a drive for professionalism which would make them more valuable even in their post-service lives.