Yemi-Esan, Perm Secs Brainstorm on Institutionalizing PMS in Public Service

Yemi-Esan, Perm Secs Brainstorm on Institutionalizing PMS in Public Service

As a demonstration of the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Administration towards ensuring a sustainable Performance Management eco-system in the Public Service in tandem with the global drive of assessing and measuring the impact of governance on the people, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, CFR, has charged Federal Permanent Secretaries to step up their games.

Dr. Yemi-Esan, CFR, made this disclosure at the opening ceremony of a One-Day Retreat for Permanent Secretaries on the Institutionalisation of Performance Management System in the Public Service on Friday, April 14, 2023, in Abuja.

The HoCSF stated that the perception of the widely anticipated Performance Management System in the Federal Civil Service is progressively moving from a conceptual idea to a work-in-progress, adding that through the right partnerships and stakeholder engagements, necessary mechanisms have, and are being put in place for transiting the Service from the use of the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) framework to the new Performance Management System (PMS).

She stated further that the essence of the Retreat is to brainstorm towards ensuring that PMS is institutionalised and fully operationalised in the Public Service by the year 2025.

According to her, “as managers of the largest Public Service in Africa, we must remain conscious and alive to our responsibility of guaranteeing the effective coordination of our teams and other available resources. This is key, so as to bring about a remarkable change in the way the Public Service in Nigeria works,” Yemi-Esan said.

While appreciating the turnout of Permanent Secretaries and Permanent Secretaries-Designate at the occasion, Dr. Yemi-Esan, CFR urged them, as Chief Administrative and Accounting Officers of MDAs to pay greater attention to the welfare and well-being of their personnel, as well as provide necessary tools to enhance productivity and service delivery.

She disclosed that the effectiveness of the entire Civil Service machinery is, largely, determined by the mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of its workforce.

The HoCSF reiterated that the focus areas among others in the new PMS within the implementation framework of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021 – 2025 (FCSSIP 25) are to: i. Finalise performance measures at the individual and unit levels with regard to KPIs and targets;
ii. Introduce regular performance appraisals and dialogues to obtain multi-source feedback; iii.Introduce a performance monitoring and reporting system;
iv. Implement an effective incentive and consequence management system; and v. Introduce development plans that incorporate employee development objectives and components in performance plans.
Other key focus areas include to:
vi. Professionalise Human Resource Management;
vii. Introduce performance-related pay system;
viii. Publish annual reports on PMS;
ix. Timely report dashboard metrics across all MDAs; and
x. Initiate voluntary exit package programmes.

Earlier in his Welcome Remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office (CMO) – OHCSF, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, affirmed that the 2023 edition of the Annual Retreat of Federal Permanent Secretaries was held at the instance of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for the implementation of the New and Modern Performance Management System, as a tool for appraising employee performance and the delivery of institutional mandates in the Federal Public Service.

Dr. Ogunbiyi added that the institutionalisation of PMS provides a systematic process of planning work, setting targets, providing support to employees and measuring results, stressing that it also provides the framework for continuous tracking of employees’ performance in a manner that is consistent and measurable for developing and improving their capacities to perform on their jobs and for motivating them for increased productivity.

He noted that the 2023 PMS Retreat is the beginning of a series of engagements between the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and Permanent Secretaries on the institutionalisation of PMS, with particular reference to planning for service-wide Key Results Areas (KRAs). “This retreat is expected to provide clear strategies and develop capacity for the full roll out of Performance Management System across all MDAs. It is our belief that our collective efforts in supporting the process of institutionalisation of a new appraisal system will put the Service on a path of sustainable and improved service delivery to the Nigerian citizenry,” says the Permanent Secretary.

The Retreat featured presentations from various Resource Persons and Facilitators on Ministerial and Sector PMS Strategic Planning, Service-wide KRAs, Objectives, Targets, Criteria Values, PMS Workflow, Demonstration of PMS IT Solution, Syndicate Sessions and much more.

M. A. Ahmed,
Director (Communications).