Former HOS wants SERVICOM strengthened for effective service delivery

A former Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOS), Alhaji Isa Sali, has called for the strengthening of SERVICOM to institutionalise the Federal Government’s change agenda in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).

Sali made this call on Monday in Abuja in a paper presented at the national policy dialogue on strategies for improving service delivery in government parastatals, agencies and commissions.

The theme of the policy dialogue is: “Service Delivery and the Change Agenda: New Impetus for a Service Delivery Culture in Government Parastatals Agencies and Commission.”

He said that SERVICOM had remained a shadow of its initially envisaged objective in spite of 15 years of existence.

The former HOS said the agency was established to re-orientate public servants to be committed, responsive and accountable to citizens.

According to him, the idea is to align citizens with government’s commitment to promote effective and efficient use of public resources, proper financial management, accountability and fiscal prudence.

He said the change agenda of the Federal Government, which has dovetail into the universal good governance agenda, was inevitable considering the challenges it met at inception.

Sali identified a participatory democratic process, supremacy of the constitution and respect for the rule of law as well as transparency and accountability as ingredients of good governance.

“Other ingredients are entrenchment of technical competence as major yardstick for appointment into public offices, promotion of freedom of information and respect for fundamental human right of citizens.

“Liberation of economic activities in such a way that provides succour to the lives of the poor and the downtrodden are also important.

“This administration’s change agenda places emphasis on entrenching a culture of selfless service, fighting corruption, provision of services that will provide quality of lives of citizens,” he said.

The former HOS said the agenda was about the public service delivering successful outcomes of good governance, adding that this could only be transmitted to the citizens by the public service.