Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof Tunji Olaopa, has listed some measures to be taken to reform the civil service and make it viable. Speaking in Abuja, yesterday, during a visit by the Head of Service (HoS) of Taraba State, Paul Tino, the FCSC boss recalled that he had been part of the conversation to raise the bar of professionalism for fellow bureaucrats in the Taraba civil service twice.
He said he was proud of the passion to learn new ideas by the civil servants he engaged at the two seminars, the last as recent as September 2023. Olaopa said that civil servants could regain their prestige if they are deliberate, committed and focused on their drive to re-professionalise through reinventing the service as a value-based profession and calling.
Urging the workers to invest in reskilling, he said, “We can deepen digital penetration and innovation by implementing e-government policies, strengthening accountability mechanisms and democratic accountability for better stewardship relationships with the people cum public in the medium-term.
“It is trite and self-serving to initiate reform for enhanced competitive pay and compensation simply to achieve activism-rooted objectives outside of sustainability considerations.”
He, however, cautioned against boxing the government into “financial commitments that make the workforce in the organised sector of the economy continue to consume the bulk of national wealth with the bulk of Nigerian taxpayers ignored and emasculated in perpetual poverty.Tino said he visited to seek synergy and mentorship from the FCSC under the chairmanship of Olaopa.
