Ministers perceive civil services as nonentities, says Head of Service

The Head of Service (HOS)of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, has challenged civil servants to improve their capacity and change the impression created in the minds of ministers and politicians that they are nonentities who are happy to earn their meagre salaries. She threw the challenge at the physical session/interview with the African Initiative for Governance on Public Leaders’ programme coordinated by Prof Chris Stone of Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Her remark was a response to the usual practice where serving ministers prefer to delegate strategic roles to Special Assistants while relegating career civil servants in the MDAs to the background. Yemi-Esan noted that ministers sidetrack civil servants because they don’t know the capacity of the civil servants they have in their MDAs. She warned that politicians will not achieve much of their aligned objectives if they refuse to make use of the civil servants that they have. “People from outside come with the mindset that civil servants don’t know anything and they leave the ministry staff and keep running around circles. The ministers won’t achieve much if they don’t use the civil servants they have. “It is important for us to improve our capacity and to know what we are doing because the impression is that we are all nonentities –that we don’t know anything. We are just earning our meagre salary and are happy with it. But if we actually come out and show the ministers and politicians that we can do it better than the SAs, then we will actually be able to see different changes in them to us,” Yemi- Esan said. She also urged civil servants to be dedicated to their duties, adding that there are a lot of opportunities for growth in the service. “It is also important for me to reiterate that we shouldn’t allow the salaries to discourage us. I think it is important and fair that I say that. Yes, the salaries are not good. But there are also 101 other opportunities,” she said. “I grew up in the service and I know that once you have been identified as a high flyer, the opportunities will come your way even without searching for those opportunities to make a few extra naira aside from your salaries. So, that is why I keep saying that it is important to be hardworking” she added. The HoS also noted that the newly introduced Performance Management System (PMS) will ensure that civil servants are more alive to their responsibilities. The Public Leaders’ Programme is one of the initiatives of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation aimed at selecting and grooming a crop of dedicated and highly motivated civil servants who will be future leaders of the civil service. (THISDAY)