Breaking News:Obasanjo, Frank Ukonga,Oby Ezekwesili, storms National Workshop on Public Sectors Reforms:
The national workshop was organised by the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation on the 30th of July 2024 and held at the Shehu Musa Yar Adua Center, Abuja; with the theme “ Rethinking Reforms: Why Many Reforms Fail in Nigeria and What We Can do About it.”
HE Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria, highlighted five principal elements to reforms, which include the initiator of the reforms, the driver, the owner, executor, and the sustainer.
While recounting his public service career, Obasanjo noted that “I had the opportunity to interact with some of our great men in public service and my experience is that any reform introduced must be continuous and it must be accepted and spread to the nooks and crannies.
“However, the greatest bane of any public service reform is discontinuity. Any break in continuity means virtually the end of the reforms. One thing we must understand in Nigeria is that reform is a lifelong thing so reforms should be difficult in this country. It should be continual, as it is not a destination but a journey,” Obasanjo said.
Speaking to Newsmen at the event, a former Presidential Candidate of the Nigerian Federation, HE Prince Frank Ukonga lauded the eforts of Aig. Imoukhuede foundation for the initiatives of the workshop on Public Sector reforms to ruminate on the problems and prospects challenging reforms in that sector; and furthermore the amiable Prince admonished the public sector stakeholders to respect more the oat of office addressed to stem corruption.
Also speaking, a former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili noted that importance of political environment is usually underplayed by technocrats, as the quality of politics drives the incentives of people who decide to stay or leave the public service
She added that “There must be consistency in government policy at all levels in improving the quality of life and for this purpose to be served, there is a need to reshape the civil service to be result driven,”
The outgoing Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan said “The Office of the HOCSF remains committed to sustaining and strengthening the structures established to drive innovation in the public service, in line with the policy thrust of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025 (FCSSIP25) in order to ensure continuity of reforms for better results.”
In his remarks, the Co-founder of the Foundation, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede said the Foundation was set up to provide technical assistance, funding and strategic support to reform the Nigerian Civil service and support them in key areas such as digitization, performance management and others.
