Former Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said a virile civil service sector remained key to the country’s success and national development.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 2024 AIG Public Leaders Programme, in Abuja, Osinbajo said the civil service has a legal and accepted vehicle by the government to make life bearable for Nigerians.
The former vice president particularly commended the various initiatives by the Aig-Imoukhuede (AIG) Foundation, partnering the government towards restoring the civil service to its former glory.
Osinbajo pointed out that the service had driven national progress in the past, having been credited for facilitating the establishment of refineries and managing major policy interventions with several successes recorded.
He said it was difficult today to compare the same civil service of the 1980s with the current crop of workers, warning that when public service delivery breaks down, there’s often catastrophic consequences.
Osinbajo said there’s no real possibility of progress for a nation or government if it’s civil service – the real infrastructure for delivering public goods is weak and inefficient.
Osinbajo said, “This is why the public service is so crucial and so important. And I think that this public leaders programme, the AIG public leaders programme, is a very important demonstration of that fact.
“And what we’ve seen, especially from the projects that were done as part of the course, is that you need to be able to hand over to public servants the capacity to innovate, the capacity to plan, the capacity to implement many of their thoughts and ideas.
“And I think that this is what the public service has always been, you know, not just the policy thinking, but also policy implementation and also innovation. Today, of course, innovation has become key.”
Osinbajo added, “And I’m so proud and excited about what I’ve heard and seen today, especially from many of those participants in this course.
“They’ve shown that they understand what the requirements of public service are in a volatile, uncertain, and complex global environment. So it’s exciting what we’re seeing today is exciting.”
The ceremony witnessed the presentation of awards to 68 course participants as well as special recognition for those who initiated projects with impact.
Osinbajo said, “The AIG Public Leaders Programme has become far more than a contribution to the development of Nigeria and Africa’s public service.
“It has emerged as a game-changing initiative for building capacity within the civil service, both locally and across the continent.”
In her remarks, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, said the programme was key to achieving success in the Federal Civil Service Strategy Implementation Plan 2021- 2025.
She also commended the foundation for the result-oriented interventions which had started to witness positive outcomes in the nation’s civil service.
Walson-Jack said, “One of the key pillars of reform in that plan is capability building and talent management.
“And so, we at the office of Head of the Civil Service of the Federation are committed to building the capabilities of the civil servants. And this we are doing in so many different ways.”
She further said, “Of course, this particular public leaders programme is a programme that is speaking to leadership. And we know that the skills that the participants have gained throughout the duration of the programme would cause them to definitely impact on the federal public service.
“And we do believe that the more this training goes on, the greater impact the participants would have on the federal public service.”
On his part, Chairman, AIG Foundation, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said the purpose of the Public Leaders Programme was to inspire each public servant to attain high potential to truly make an impact in the country they serve.
He said, “And we do that by exposing them to the very best of training delivered by the faculty from the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.
“We also bring accomplished leaders from the public and private sector in Africa to come and speak to them.
“They go into case studies and they immerse themselves into practical experiences. But I think probably the most powerful part of this programme is that every single one of our scholars must do what we call a Capstone project.
“And that capstone project is that they look for something that would be of impact, usually we try and make sure that it’s within the sphere of their current area of focus.
“So, if you are engaged, for instance, in regulation, it may be something pertaining to regulation. If you’re engaged in some other activity of governance, focus on that. But most importantly, you use the skills that this programme gives to you to design a project that makes an impact.”
Aig-Imoukhuede added that the foundation seeks to accelerate the production of scholars to achieve the 3,000 mark.
He added, “We are about 10 per cent of the way, and we will get there.
“The most important thing is that when you think about maybe 3,000 public servants in very senior positions, all taking on one project every two years that has major impact at the same time, then Nigeria will really feel the transformation.
“And that’s what this programme is about. Of course, there are other programmes that we drive as a foundation.”
