Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, says the service wide induction programme for new employees into the service will be re-activated to ensure efficiency and productivity.
Oyo-Ita said this at a workshop on: “The Application of Induction Tool kit for induction training programmes,” organised for Departmental Training Officers of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies in Abuja on Monday.
The workshop was organsed by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation in collaboration with the Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn Programme under the Department for International Development.
Oyo-Ita explained that due to the decrease in government’s revenue, the OHCSF had not been able to induct new employees over the years as well as train the DTOs.
She said: “Over the years as government revenue dwindled due to downturn in crude oil production and the international oil price, the service was unable to fund the conduct of service wide induction programme for the new entrants into the civil service.
“The resultant effect is manifesting in inefficiency, low productivity and insensitivity to the need of the public and that is why the OHCSF has gone back to the drawing board to rea-ctivate it.
“If we are not investing in our human capital, in our workforce then we cannot expect the country to develop at the pace we are hopeful for.
“Some of the most developed countries in our world today do not have mineral and natural resources but they have human capital and that is what has brought them to the first world.”
According to her, if we do not build our human capital, the lofty projects of the government will not materialise no matter the quantity of resources we have.
She added that the timing of the workshop was apt as it would help bridge the gap in the conduct of service wide induction programme.
The head of service said that her office had been working with PERL-DFID in the last eight months to develop the tool kit.
Oyo-Ita added that application of the tool kit would expose young officers to the ethics and processes of the service.
In his remarks, Ordu Obibuaku, Federal Lead, PERL-DFID, said that the organisation was honoured to be part of reforming the Nigeria civil service through the development of the induction tool kit.
Obibuaku added that PERL-DFID was committed to supporting the Nigerian government in achieving its lofty and commendable goals of accountable, responsible and capable governance.
HDFID-PERL is contributing to developing a performance management system, competency frame work, facilitation of culture change research and enabling knowledge management.
He said: “DFID-PERL is committed to supporting government reforms in Nigeria to enable them attain the lofty but commendable goals of accountable, responsible and capable governance, engaging citizens in governance bench marking and learning from global best practices standards.
“DFID-PERL wishes the head of civil service the very best in the pursuit of excellence and re –affirms its commitment for partnership for change innovation and a world class civil service.”
One of the participants, Joel Adeoye, the Assistant Director, Training, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, called for uniformity in induction process among MDAs.
He defined induction as the training of newly employed staff into the civil service on the dos and don’ts of the civil service.
Adeoye added that, induction should be prioritised as every officer is supposed to be orientated by the government to provide a platform for better performance.
He also noted that, induction should be conducted not just for new entrants but for civil servants who had been transferred between MDAs, promoted and returned from extended leave.
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