FG to restructure civil service to global standard – Oyo-Ita

In a bid to restructure the Federal Civil Service system in line with the global standard, the Federal Government has declared open the Structured Mandatory Training Programme (SMAT-P) for civil servants.

It was reported that the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita declared the training open on Monday in Abuja.

Oyo-Ita explained that the SMAT-P was specifically organised to mark the commencement of the training activities under the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP) 2017-2020.

She also inaugurated the re-designed three core training modules on Leadership Enhancement Advancement Development-Programme (LEAD-P) of the training exercise being part of the FCSSIP 2017-2020.

It was reported that the FCSSIP 2020 is one of the Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible and Citizen-centred (EPIC) programme.

FCSSIP was inaugurated in 2017 to take effect to the year 2020; the process was to ensure that the operations in the public service reflect the EPIC culture in the civil service.

EPIC is one of the eight key priority initiatives of the strategy which is central and would play critical role to successful delivery of the goals and objectives of the other initiatives.

“As you may recall, we launched the 2017-2020 FCSSIP-2020, indicating a commitment to organisational transformation with a vision to build a modern Public Service.

“Organisation that provides world class service for sustainable National Development.

“It also envisioned a change in behaviour from bureaucratic red-Tapism to an entrepreneurial result-oriented and innovative public service among other goals,“ she said.

According to Oyo-Ita, the FCSSIP-2020 will address the challenge of untargeted trainings facing the Service.

“Over the years, the absence of structured and targeted training programmes for civil servants has been a major challenge to the Federal Civil Service.

“Training activities across the Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) have hitherto been carried out haphazardly, without considering the actual competencies lacking in the Service.

“This approach has exacerbated the knowledge and skills gap in the service,“ she said.

The focus of the plan, the head of service said, was to ascertain the obvious knowledge and skill gaps in Nigeria`s civil service and design relevant training contents to fill them.

According to her, the training captures the basis of grade level 7 to 10 while the intermediaries is for grade level 12 to 14.

She added that the advanced was for grade level 15 to 17, selected across ministries in the service.

Dr Magdalene Ajani, Permanent Secretary, Service Policies and Strategies Office, OHCSF earlier said the essence of the training was to have a more robust input from both the participants and the trainers themselves.

Ajani tasked the participants to exploit the training period to apply in their job experiences for more productivity in the nation`s civil service.

According to her, every civil servant will be trained, beginning with the core civil servants after which the public servants will take their own turns.

Dr Amina Bello, Permanent Secretary, Special Service Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, commended the Federal Government for the steps taken to upgrade civil service in Nigeria.

Represented by Mrs Didi Jackson, Bello said the exercise would improve the capacity and the competence of civil servants in the country to meet with the global standard.

Mrs Nkechi Onosode, a participant at the training said she had gained useful information to upgrade her horizon for effective service delivery after the training.

“I believe at the end of this programme, I will gain a wider knowledge, skills and attitude towards effective services in my career,“ she said.