FG Undertakes ICT to Transform Civil Service,Seeks Singapore’s Model
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita has affirmed Federal Government commitment to transform the Civil Service through the introduction and Implementation of innovative ideas that will move the service forward in line with global trend.
This, according to her is the only way the service can be dynamic to meet up with the challenges of the 21st Century.
Mrs. Oyo-Ita gave this affirmation during the bench marking and study tour visit of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the Heads of Service in the States of the Federation including Federal and State Permanent Secretaries to some establishments in Singapore on Thursday, 5th and Friday, 6th July, 2018.
Mrs Oyo-Ita who led the delegation said the success stories of the Public /Civil Service of Malaysia and Singapore were possible because they have been able to move their thinking and actions away from the colonial ways of doing things.They have leveraged on their potentials to meet with the challenges and expectations of our modern age.
Mrs Oyo-Ita emphasized on the necessity and urgency of the Civil Service to brace up to implement innovative ideas for the development of the Service to meet with the demands of the 21st Century.
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The Head of Civil Service of the Federation was impressed at how Singapore has leveraged on technology and ICT to transform its Public /Civil Service to global excellence. She revealed some of the measures the Nigerian government is taking to improve the service. The measures include creation of work improvement units in Ministries. She said “the units created in Ministries will comprise of groups of Civil Servants from bottom –up who will be allowed self-expression on how to improve their work operations.” She assured that Civil Servants will be given the enabling environment to develop innovative ideas that will transform the Service to meet with global trends.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation and her team also visited the Institute of Technical Education to see how the Singaporean Government is focusing on technology and development; while capturing their youth at a very early stage in the educational curriculum.
She enjoined the delegates to return to Nigeria with the determination that the education curriculum of Nigeria must be planned and structured to deliver needed services to the country.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation who expressed admiration for the performance ranking system of Singapore appealed to the various unions in the Public /Civil Service to focus less on agitation for salary increase but rather be more definitive and proactive on how to improve the Service.
The general consensus from the people in all the places visited is that Nigerians should never stop learning. They should always be eager for innovation and improvement. Nigerians must learn to challenge the way they think for innovation and transformation to be possible.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation observed with interest that despite the global advancement of Singapore, their Public Service still sees itself as a work in progress. They still consider that there must be continuous improvement and transformation in their work and national ethics.
Nigerians were urged to pursue excellence through new thinking and action. There must also be a new sense of purpose and commitment for the reform programmes to work and be successful. Furthermore reforms must be a continuous process.
The delegation paid a courtesy visit to the Head of Service of Singapore, Leo Yip. They visited the Centre for Strategic futures, Nigerian High Commission, Institute of Technical Education, Civil Service College, Singapore and the
UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence.
Ogunmosunle, O.A
