Institute, Stakeholders Call for Better Public Service

Paul Obi in Abuja

The Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) and other stakeholders have called for better public service in order to enhance national development.

PSIN Administrator and CEO, Dr. Abdul-Ganiyu Obatoyinbo stated this in Abuja after a recent tour of Malaysia and Singapore.

According to Obayoyinbo, the tour, which was led by the Head of Service, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita yielded positive results with regards to the knowledge gained during the tour.

He listed workers’ commitment, dedication and implementation of extant rules as part of measures to enhance the mandate of public service in the country.

The PSIN boss maintained that there is no other way to make the nation’s public service effective, except that Nigerians see themselves as change and development agents.

“We all have to support our leaders, be committed and believe in our country. We have to see ourselves as change agents. We discover that most of our legislations are outdated and we have to review and update the public service rules. There are also some policies that need to be reviewed to meet modern contemporary needs and challenges.

“There is also the need for periodic training and fine-tuning of the curriculum. Every civil servant must attend the training for at least seven days and it is compulsory under the nation’s law.

“This study tour would not be a jamboree as it has the buy-in of President Muhammadu Buhari. Also, we have all the heads of service of all the states, and we all see things for ourselves. We all need to imbibe the spirit of patriotism to fast-track the developmental processes,” Obatoyinbo said.

Also, the Kogi State Head of Service, Mrs. Deborah Ogunmola observed that explained that the Malaysia and Singapore civil services developed because their people are committed.

“They love their country and are dedicated. We are going to our various states to impact what we learnt and it was good that all the heads of the service of various states were together,” she said.

Head of Service of Kaduna State, Hajiya Bariatu Yusuf Mohammed stressed that Nigeria has the best of laws but is lacking implementation and compliance.

Mohammed said: “We saw lots of innovation in Malaysia and Singapore. Kaduna State has lots of innovations too. They have integrity units in both countries, especially in Singapore very interesting. They (Singapore) have rules similar to ours but they complied with theirs.

“Our problem here is we have one of the best rules but we do not comply. I will work to change the attitudes of civil servants to start complying with rules in the interest of the society,” she added.