President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria’s civil
service has a reputation for inefficiency, low productivity and
corruption.
Buhari, who was represented by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, stated this on Monday in Abuja at the inauguration
of capacity building programmes, tagged “Structured
Mandatory Assessment-based Training Programme and
Leadership Enhancement and Development Programme”, for
public servants.
The President said that Nigeria’s civil service was declining
due to its inability to articulate a vision and develop the
required capacity to implement such vision.
Buhari said, “Many, who mourn the decline of the civil service
today from its days as ‘primus inter pares’ in the
Commonwealth to one which has earned a reputation for
inefficiency, low productivity, corruption and insensitivity to
the needs of the public, fall into the error of thinking that the
problem is a poverty of ideas and capacity on the part of the
civil service; whereas, it is the inability to clearly articulate a
vision, ensure that the service develops the required capacity
to articulate and implement the various components of the
vision.
“The citizen, regardless of station in life, must be respected by
the governing authorities and treated with dignity.
“Flowing from these is the imperative that our society must
be governed by the rule of law, administered by a trustworthy,
fearless, impartial and efficient judiciary”.
He described the federal civil servants as the foot soldiers in
Nigeria’s march to a great destiny, saying he believed the
federal civil service would not fail Nigerians.
“An army cannot afford indiscipline, inefficiency or lack of
focus, especially because the hopes and aspirations of a whole
society rest on your shoulders,” the President said to the civil
servants.
Buhari said the civil servants must see themselves as
servants and facilitators of commerce and entrepreneurship
and that they must design policies and remove obstacles to
doing business in Nigeria.
Buhari said the civil service should provide answers to
questions such as “What are the strategic and financial
planning initiatives important in a strong private sector led,
free market economy but with a robust social protection
system for the poor majority?
“What are the crucial communications to make to the people
in a season requiring sacrifice and perseverance on account of
falling revenues or for that matter communicate the position
that our anti-corruption, zero tolerance stand, is not merely a
moral or ethical stand but a developmental construct that
recognises that corruption if not apprehended will destroy all
institutions, the economy and eventually our society?”
Earlier, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr.
Danladi Kifasi, said the objective of the programmes was to
address capacity and leadership challenges in the service.
He noted that the programmes were funded from the training
budgets of the ministries, departments and agencies.
He said Buhari, in the absence of ministers, had helped to
restore the confidence of the civil service by depending on it
for support in governing the country.
He said the service would support the incumbent
administration in its bid to bring about positive change in the
country.
Kifasi identified effective leadership as one of the challenges
facing the civil service.
He stated, “The Leadership Enhancement and Development
Programme is one of the elements of the new Leadership
Development Framework for the Federal Civil Service.
“ LEAD-P will help to identify potential leaders at the various
levels in the service, nurture developing leaders and enhance
the capacity and capability of existing leaders.”
“Our decision to restrict foreign training and promote home-
grown capacity development is what has made SMAT-P and
LEAD-P possible.”
“The programmes are funded primarily from the training
budgets of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies and
delivered mainly by Nigerian Management Development
Institutes.
“This means that resources that could have been lost to
foreign training institutions have been used to develop and
strengthen Nigerian training institutions.’’