Why public service reforms are inevitable – Olaopa

The Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said that reforms in the public sector are inevitable. He said this on Monday in Abuja at a one-day roundtable discussion on ‘Public Service Reforms Improvement and Change’, organised by the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) and European Union (EU). Olaopa said past […]

Why public service reforms are inevitable – Olaopa

The Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said that reforms in the public sector are inevitable.

He said this on Monday in Abuja at a one-day roundtable discussion on ‘Public Service Reforms Improvement and Change’, organised by the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) and European Union (EU).

Olaopa said past and contemporary reforms in the public service have been geared towards strengthening institutions and improving performance.

He said the objective of institutional reforms since the mid-1970s, is generally to, in one breath, ignite a shift from rules compliance ‘I am directed’ old Weberian bureaucratic managerial tradition to a more performance-oriented administrative system.

He noted that a new public service is envisioned to be entrepreneurial, technocratic, technology-enabled and accountability-driven within the framework of stewardship relationship with the public as democratic imperative.

“In another breath, reforms had entailed significant drives towards paradigm reinvention of the value-orientation of the civil service of the golden era of the 1960s to the 70s in Nigeria.

“Prior to BPSR, reform efforts were typically structured as long-term, blueprint-driven processes, such as the Udoji Commission in 1972, Dr Phillips’ 1984 study, and the Abbas-Ndudja reforms. These reforms were carried out through commissions and study groups, often producing reports after many years,” Olaopa said.