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 […]

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.

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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.

He decried a situation where public perception is such that public institutions are seen as not working and that governments have not demonstrated that they can deliver development.

Director General of the BPSR, Dasuki Arabi, said that public service reforms in Nigeria is getting to its 21st year.

“We started 20 years ago and we feel it is high time for us to have a rethink and a look at what we have done, successes achieved, and what we need to do better. The Bureau of Public Service Reforms was established in 2004 as a lead agency and engine room for integrated reform initiatives, implementation, coordination, and harmonization.

“As you may all be aware, public sector reform simply refers to the administrative transformation of the public sector. It is concerned with taking action on administrative problems in the public sector through institutional or administrative reforms.

“Public sector reforms are aimed at improving efficiency and productivity of the public service. I also want to draw your attention to the fact that reforms are introduced and they involve persuasion and agreement. It is not always universally accepted as the obvious or the true course.

“It is an invisible process and it is undertaken in the belief that end results will better than the practice code and therefore will involve the effort to overcome resistance,” Arabi said.

He said that the next step needed for the bureau and other genres of reforms is to take delivering quality public service to the citizens as a top priority.

He said, “There must be merit-based employment and promotion within the public service, so that we have the best class of people to work and deliver these efficient services that we want them to do.”

Also, a lead consultant at BPSR, Prof. Akintola Bello, said that there is now a consensus that any necessary changes in the public sector must come through certain steps.

“We need to let go of past practices and adapt to new approaches, but we must avoid repeating past mistakes. To begin with, we are facing some significant challenges. While there have been efforts to improve performance, these are still in the discussion phase.

“The app designed for this purpose has been dismantled, and no replacement has been put in place. Moreover, the leadership of public services continues to alter the core values of the sector.

“In the past five years, the value of the civil service was 32. Now, however, the focus has shifted, and the public value that the civil service should uphold is described as ‘ample’,” Bello said.