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The Federal Civil Service Commission ( FCSC) has lauded what it has described as the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike’s passion for the reform of the civil service.
This was part of the congratulatory message by the FCSC to mark Wike’s 58th birthday.
In the message by the chairman of the FCSC, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, he acknowledged the infrastructural development that Wike has recorded. But, he specifically commended his reform effort which led to the emergence of the FCT Civil Service Commission, the head of service and permanent secretaries. He said that this singular milestone paved the way for the flourishing of the careers of many civil servants in the FCT.
“With Nyesom Wike, I know just how to reflect about his birthday. And this, undeniably, consists of his support and passion, balanced with vision and dynamism, in the establishment of the FCT Civil Service Commission and other ancillary machinery of the state system. No one can, and not least the thousands of career civil servants in the Federal Capital Territory as the ‘37th state’ of the Nigerian federation, can deny the fundamental importance of this development, the foundation of which was laid with the Federal Capital Territory Civil Service Commission Act which was passed into law way back in 2018. However, the stalled implementation continued to ground the harrowing administrative experiences and professional future, aspirations and fulfillment of our teeming colleagues civil/public servants who could not make any headway with their career because of the lack of the requisite institutional architectural backbone to support their professional development and career advancement. Until Wike came into the situation and in his characteristic no-nonsense forthright manner, took the bull by the horn and forced through not just the emergence of the FCT Civil Service Commission, but the establishment of the offices of the head of the civil service of the FCT and permanent secretaries.”
To Olaopa, this reform passion plays right into not only the institutional aspiration of the Federal Civil Service Commission to strengthen the public administration profession’s institutional gatekeeping and its meritocratic backend that could backstop the emergence of the civil service as a world-class institution in the long-term. “It is also a formidable plank in the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
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It becomes a very formidable example and legacy of strengthening subnational systems and steering them out of their usual institutional lethargy. With the FCT-CSC up and running, the FCSC can heave a huge sigh of relief that its institutional reform programme has the support of an indefatigable Minister with an eye for functionality, efficiency and progress.”
The message read further: “One aspect of the significance of birthdays, especially for public figures, is to articulate milestones that go beyond chronological accounting of age and years. For politicians, it is a moment to cumulate progress in terms of what is recognisable as the person’s contribution to political understanding, policy progress and institution building. With Wike, 58 years is truly a milestone in terms of what you have brought to the table as progress in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. And I am not just talking about infrastructural development that keeps rearranging the face of the city.
“As an institutional reformer, public administration researcher and the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), my remit and mission are unequivocal in the assessment of what constitutes institutional strengthening and progress that make the civil service system in Nigeria functional, re-professionalised, efficient and resilient. I, therefore, know what to look for in any attempt at scrutinising and engaging with those who have been saddled with the responsibilities of making Nigeria work for her citizens. To take Nigeria seriously, for me, involves implementing governance and institutional reforms that are transformational in unlocking binding constraints, and thereby, contribute to making our national transformation journey more sure-footed.
“On behalf of myself, my Commissioners and the entire Federal Civil Service Commission family, we raise 58 hearty cheers to loudly celebrate your patriotic commitment to public service, institutional development and visionary partnership, one which recognises the FCSC as a unique part of your unceasing efforts to make the FCT, and hence Nigeria, function much better than you met it. We wish you many more years of productive performance. We are pleased to be part of a testament to the celebration of personal and institutional fulfilment and many happy returns. May the years ahead keep translating your chronological years into institutional progress and progression that tie your advances in age to the enduring collaborations you keep making to transform the country you love so much.
“Happy birthday, Minister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, Commander of the Order of Niger. May grace continue to abound to keep you in good health and sound mind.”
