Lagos – The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, has pledged to revive the public sector to align with the change agenda of the Federal Government.
Oyo-Ita reiterated this at a forum organised by the Institute of Directors Nigeria (IOD) in Lagos yesterday.
The theme of the forum was: “Developing Public Sector Directors for Nation Building.”
She said that the government intended to develop efficient and incorruptible public service like in the time past.
Oyo-Ita said that to achieve the goal, the government would improve the capacity of its workforce because civil servants were the engine room that drove government’s policies and programmes.
She said that over the years, there had not been adequate training for the workforce, especially new entrants due to financial constraints.
According to her, while most of us at the top echelon enjoy diverse trainings others do not.
Oyo-Ita said that her office would develop various training programmes during the year based on skills gap analysis to be conducted by Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).
The head of service also said the government would promote entrepreneurial skills for civil servants from grade level 15 to prepare them for life after retirement.
She said that through the Enterprise Document Management System, all operations in the service would be fully digitised.
According to her, an industrial exchange programme will be introduced whereby civil servants in director cadre will go on exchange programmes in the private sector to acquire knowledge.
She said that many civil servants were at the mercy of landlords, hence the creation of a welfare package project that allowed them access to affordable housing.
Mr Samuel Akeju, the President of IOD, advised the government to entrench good corporate governance in the country’s public sector.
