Nigeria: Refocusing the Civil Service

24 September 2019

Most discerning Nigerians are aware of a silent but focused re-jigging of the Civil Service processes by President Muhammadu Buhari. Before now, there is no denying the fact that the president has an implicit confidence in the service, especially the office of the permanent secretary which he believes does the work the minister takes credit for. Permanent secretaries held forth for more than six months in the early days of the president's first term in office. They also kept the system working between May 29 till August 22 2019 and, therefore, in a good position to put the new ministers through and guide them in policy formulation, interpretation and implementation.

But beyond the personal perception of the service by the president, there is no gainsaying it that the civil service is the major engine that turns the wheel of government and keeps it on an even keel. It is at the heart of the executive arm of government, initiating policies and seeing them through to implementation. That may explain why political operators get worried whenever the civil service lags behind in terms of executing policies and plans.

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