Background

Since independence in 1960, the Nigerian civil service has experienced many a period of instability, that undermined its ability to perform its policy advisory and policy implementation functions. Governments have successively recognised that a country is only as effective as its civil service, and that the vision of a country can only be built through the reinvigoration of its civil service.

Past Reform and Achievements

Two institutional assessments of the OHCSF were carried out in 2008 and 2009. The reports recommended a fundamental restructuring of the OHCSF to reduce the number of offices under it. The transfer of the Bureau for Public Service Reform (BPSR) to the OHCSF from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), however, further increased the number of offices under the OHCSF.

A 2013-2017 five-year strategic plan was developed based on the evidence from empirical diagnostic studies, and from series of office-wide stakeholder consultations. The Strategic Plan was designed to ensure a repositioned, focused, functional, and effective office that provides leadership for the Federal Civil Service (FCS). It infused the entire OHCSF with renewed vigour and also created a shared understanding of the type of Central Administrative Agency (CAA) that the OHCSF would want to be by 2017. A new three-office management structure was approved in January 2013, reducing the number of departments in the OHCSF from 25 to 12 departments. The reforms have reduced bureaucracy and red tape by divesting the Office of the Head of Service of functions that could

Challenges and Next Steps

The ongoing reforms should be continued, in spite of resistance to it as reflected by the first phase three-year office management structure taking up to a year before agreed upon and approved by the President. ICT should be effectively deployed, to replace existing processes in the OHSCF, which are largely paper-driven. Office spaces and facilities should be increased to accommodate the expanding workforce. Capacity building should be prioritised to enhance effective implementation of the reforms and enable the work required to transform the offices into world-class institutions.