There has been a sustained conversation about cleaning up the governance structure of the public service in order to create institutions that function for the good, growth and well-being of the people. They say that because of the strategic relevance of the public service, getting it right at that level would put so many things to function effectively and on a roll.
For instance, some regulatory agencies have been captured by greedy political heads, while some other agencies have been wilfully traduced and redced to helplessness. Something has to give somehow.
But the 'how' has always been the problem. Words are cheap, they say. How do we straighten out the public service and its people inebriated by the failures and waywardness of the past, a system where service is seen as favour and not responsibility, where the worst misfits from privileged homes are recruited to the detriment of the very best the society has to offer but who are not from favoured backgrounds?
Words are cheap, they say. But the Centre for Public Sector Governance, CPSG, or The Centre, which was birthed in Abuja last week, says it "has been established to meet identified need for improved efficiency with a unique value proposition rooted in providing tailored support to government-owned businesses, regulatory bodies and public institutions in general. Efficiency in how public institutions are run holds the key to a nation's prosperity and advancement."
Words are cheap, they say. The Centre has promised to move beyond words in order to "equip target institutions with the tools, knowledge, and frameworks necessary to deliver high performing public service entities, value creation and regulatory certainty. Thus, helping to shape governance systems that truly serve the needs and aspirations of our people".
Chairman of the Advisory Board of The Centre is Ernest Ndukwe, an engineer, who is also the Chairman of MTN Nigeria. He has put together a stellar cast of high performing personalities comprising Mr Muhammad K. Ahmad; Professor Fabian Ajogwu, SAN; Odein Ajumogobia, SAN; and Ms Rabi Isma.
For as long as I have known Ndukwe, even in my days as a young reporter in the broadcast and telecommunications sectors, he has always acted in the public good, mobilising talented and selfless individuals to work as a team to deliver good and selfless services to the nation.
He mobilised fellow professionals to campaign for the deregulation of the telecommunications industry. When the lot fell on him to superintend the affairs of the industry through the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Ndukwe mobilised some of the best human capital in the form of a workforce to deliver a great regulatory agency that became one of the best in the world. His legacy at the institution remains permanent and has held forth at the regulatory agency that came under constant assault by rapacious raiders under the previous administration.
Ndukwe's forte is in using the best people for the good of society always by way of demonstrating that the best exist in our nation and they must be deployed the right way.
On hand to deliver the keynote address was Prof Adetunji Olaopa, Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, FCSC, and founder, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy, ISGPP, whose paper, 'Strengthening Leadership and Ethics in Public Service', provided the the platform for an animated but revealing discourse by Muhammad K. Ahmad, Mrs Funmi Ilamah, Dr Armstrong Takang, Dr Dasuki Arabi, and Ms Ayotola Jagun. The panel session was moderated by Mrs Uto Ukpanah who is Company Secretary, MTN Nigeria.
Olaopa called the launch of the CPSG - The Centre- a spirited patriotic effort by tested high-end professionals, who having bestrode the public sector governance space, and having a deep sense of the significant binding capacity and capability constraints that have been circumscribing Nigeria's develoment journey and her potentials, do not want to resign to the 'siddon-look' option, but have chosen to give back through strategic interventions as a generational think thank investment."
In stating the focus of his keynote and putting the idea of the public service in perspective, Olaopa made the following observations: This has to be the starting point because the idea for the government, especially in Nigeria, has become so bastardised. And we all are familiar with how the public service is taken in Nigeria. To say you are working in a public institution is to mean a lot of things. One, it translates to doing whatever you like - arriving at work anytime, utilising workspace environment for personal business, loafing during work hour, or being essentially unproductive. Indeed given this perception of the public service, it is no wonder that the Nigerian government has lost its positon as the employer of choice; and the new generation of workers find the bureaucratic workplace too constraining and old fashioned to generate the required performance and productivity profile that undergird a developmental state.
Olaopa recalled with some nostalgia, perhaps, that the idea of the public service was also conceived to be apolitical and separated from the mandate of the politicians, just as the vocation of the public service is tied to the idea of honour. He observed that an honourable public official is the one who sees to the execution of a policy to the best of his ability, even if he disagrees with the policy choice. This is an honourable act because it demonstrates that the bureaucratic sense of duty and service overrides his personal wilfulness.
Discussants agreed that in building an institutional culture, the right people must be employed to do the right thing, adding that if you want to fight corruption, systems must be put in place to prevent it instead of investigations after the act.
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Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, commended the mission of The Centre which includes the creation and implementation of innovative governance models to address the unique challenges faced by our public institutions, thereby empowering them to operate more effectively and fulfill their mandates.
But in a country where rich parents are buying job positions for their children and politicians doing worse by blackmailing juicy government agencies to give their children big positions even when unmerited, some people whispered on the side if the efforts of the The Centre would not just evaporate as a mirage or wishful pipedream.
As if the whispers got into his ears, Prof Fabian Ajogwu said the idea of The Centre is ripe and both timely and essential for the following reasons - Strengthening Governance Structure, Building Capacity for Better Service Delivery, and Promoting Accountability and Transparency.
Somebody observed that the road to perfection is always under construction. Some other persons said the journey initiated that day is a marathon. There is no doubt that The Centre has a big job ahead but what is significantly palpable is the invitation to be part of a shared vision of a transparent, accountable and resilient public sector.
