Civil service book sparks calls for succession reform

Veteran public administrators and political leaders have called for a reinvention of Nigeria’s civil service values and succession planning as they gathered in Abuja, on Wednesday, for the public presentation of a new book titled: “Leadership in the Nigerian Civil Service – Five Decades of Lessons in Performance, Encounters and Triumphs,” authored by Dr. Goke […]

Veteran public administrators and political leaders have called for a reinvention of Nigeria’s civil service values and succession planning as they gathered in Abuja, on Wednesday, for the public presentation of a new book titled: “Leadership in the Nigerian Civil Service – Five Decades of Lessons in Performance, Encounters and Triumphs,” authored by Dr. Goke Adegoroye, a technocrat and retired federal permanent secretary.

Speaking at the launch, the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Office of the Vice President, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, who represented Vice President Kashim Shettima, described the book as a timely reminder that Nigeria’s future hinges on deliberate mentorship and leadership succession.

“Public service is not a stage for performance, it is a laboratory for reform,” Dr. Modibbo said. “But no reform will outlive its architects unless it is institutionalised. This is where we have faltered the most. Our history is littered with policies that began well but vanished with their pioneers because no one was prepared to carry the torch forward.”

He hailed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for setting a standard in succession planning, saying Tinubu’s legacy as Lagos State governor endures because of his foresight in grooming capable successors. “What is leadership without legacy?” he asked. “And what is legacy if no one is trained, equipped and inspired to uphold it?”

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In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Oba of Akure, His Royal Majesty, Oba Samuel Oluyemi Falae, CFR, praised Adegoroye for documenting his experience in public service, a practice he said is rare among Nigerian officials.

“Many of us never wrote anything,” Falae said. “We kept saying we would write after retirement, after our children’s weddings, or after visiting Canada. But we never do. Writing a memoir is difficult. I tried, and it took me over three years to finish mine after many false starts. I can’t sit for more than two hours now without pain, so if you wait till you’re 75 or 80, you won’t write anything.”

He urged public servants to document their experiences for posterity, lamenting that the reading culture in Nigeria is fading, but still insisting that: “If you don’t write, future generations will never know how we navigated this country.”

In his special address, the author, Dr. Goke Adegoroye, reflected on his decades in the civil service, expressing concern that despite the length of his service, the tangible impact remained elusive.

“I once said, ‘Do not celebrate me, cry with me for my beloved country,’” he recalled, referencing a previous speech during his retirement. “Thirty-five years of service should have been enough to change a nation, yet the institutions remain broken.”

He said the system continues to reward connections over competence. “We have turned what should be a value-based system into a bargaining hall for ethnicity, connections, and godfatherism,” he said.

Adegoroye called for urgent reforms to transform the civil service into an effective machinery for governance. “The starting point is for the president to appoint credible and competent men and women of impeccable integrity into the three central bureaucracy offices, the Secretary to the Government, Head of the Civil Service, and Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, and ensure they deliver on their mandate,” he said.

He also warned that the decline of institutional memory has allowed unqualified individuals, whom he described as “invasive species”, to enter the system, compromising its integrity and long-term effectiveness. “Federal permanent secretaries today often lack a decade of mainstream civil service experience,” he said.

He noted structural problems: “The politicisation of the civil service is the death of professionalism. When promotions are no longer based on merit but on allegiance to political interests, you are destroying the engine room of governance.”

He also said that other challenges facing governance in Nigeria include political appointees who treat office as personal property, a legislature that abuses its oversight powers, and the confusion between presidential and parliamentary structures within the bureaucracy.

Reflecting on the inspiration behind the book, Adegoroye narrated how personal experiences and public perception shaped his thoughts. He recalled being taunted by a young acquaintance who referenced a past disciplinary action against the now chairman of the Civil Service Commission, viewed today as a reformer. That moment, he said, forced him to confront how history judges decisions in public service.

“Leadership remains the single most important determinant in management and governance,” he added, recalling how professional exchanges with figures like Professor Victor Ayeni helped crystallise the book’s central theme.

He proposed a structural leadership development programme that addresses attitudinal, procedural, and systemic weaknesses in the service. “Civil or public service is more than a career. It should be seen as a calling, a moral obligation to serve the public good,” he said.

He stressed that integrity remains the most critical ingredient in public sector effectiveness, citing this as the motivation behind his annual Public Service Integrity Award for deserving civil servants.

Adegoroye lamented the return of civil service godfatherism. “When I retired 15 years ago, I knew many officers on Levels 15 and 16 who were sure to make it to the presidency. Today, most of them have retired unfulfilled,” he said.

The event was attended by senior government officials, traditional rulers, scholars, and civil society leaders, who hailed the publication as a vital contribution to preserving the institutional memory of Nigeria’s civil service.