Civil Service Week: FG honours 98 civil servants

The Federal Government has honoured 98 federal civil servants, across the Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs), for their outstanding services to the nation, in commemoration of the 2021 civil service week. The presentation of certificates and letters of awards was made on Tuesday in Abuja, at a public lecture, organised by the Office of the […]

The Federal Government has honoured 98 federal civil servants, across the Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs), for their outstanding services to the nation, in commemoration of the 2021 civil service week.

The presentation of certificates and letters of awards was made on Tuesday in Abuja, at a public lecture, organised by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), as part of activities marking the 2021 civil service week, with the theme, “Deploying Technology to Sustain and Enhance Service Delivery in the Face of this Challenging COVID-19 Pandemic Climate”.

• How police gunned down Nigerian UK-based footballer in his apartment
• JUST IN: PDP Reps kick as two lawmakers defect to APC

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, said her office was on course to deliver on its mandates to improve on quality service delivery to Nigerians.

“The Federal Government has put in place a number of mechanisms to improve efficiency and enhance performance of the civil service in the face of the current global dynamics, especially the new normal,” Yemi-Esan said.

She, however, listed some of the mechanisms provided by the Federal Government to enhance the sector to include; digitalisation through the deployment of an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Solution.

She also listed capacity-building programmes like Mandatory Induction, Structured Mandatory Assessment-Based Training Programme (SMAT-P) and Leadership Enhancement and Development Programme (LEAD-P) and Training for Conversion to Planning Cadre, among others.

On his part, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, expressed delight over the choice of the theme for the 2021 civil service celebration.

The SGF represented by the Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, said the theme had demonstrated the activeness of the HOCSF for turning the challenge emanated from COVID-19 into an opportunity by most civil servants.

According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic has forcefully exposed the importance of technology in people’s daily activities especially in the way of conduct of lives, and the conduct of government’s businesses is no exception.

“For most of last year, government’s businesses like other businesses were conducted virtually and this exposed Nigeria’s lack of readiness to be a critical player in the ongoing global industrial revolution underpins by advances in information technology,” he said.

Speaking on the theme, in her keynote, a former Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Ifueko Omoigui Okauru, said Nigerian civil servants could perform more with the advancement in technology.

She said Africa was working towards attaining the gold by 2063, hence the need for Nigeria to imitate the initiative.