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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government yesterday kicked off a three-day strategic retreat in Abuja focused on standardising the methodology for a comprehensive personnel audit and skills gap analysis across the federal civil service.
The retreat brought together members of the steering committee, the implementation team, Phillips Consulting Limited, and the 15 cluster consultants engaged in the project.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Didi Walson-Jack, inaugurated the retreat, describing the exercise as a critical milestone within the broader civil service reforms. She emphasised its role as a national project and a key pillar of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025.
“This personnel audit and skills gap analysis will establish a credible and verifiable database detailing the skills, competencies and workforce distribution within ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs),”she explained.
Walson-Jack highlighted the purpose of the initiative, stating, “We must establish a workforce profile that can be trusted for evidence-based planning, targeted training, efficient deployment and transparent succession management. With it, we can direct capacity building where it is most needed, redeploy resources strategically and plan for the next generation of civil servants.”
Calling on retreat participants, she stressed the importance of developing a unified and functional methodology that will reinforce reform efforts. Mrs. Walson-Jack further noted that the outcomes of the retreat would significantly shape civil service recruitment, postings, promotions, training and succession management for the future. Chairman of Philips Consulting and lead consultant on the project, Folunsho Philips, characterised the civil service as a vast organisation in urgent need of thorough verification of personnel to close gaps in skills and competencies.
“We want to identify the kinds of jobs we need to fill, the kind of people we need to fill them, and then deal with the gaps in terms of skills and capabilities,” Philips said.
He also expressed confidence that the project, once executed, could be adopted by state governments to enhance public service delivery at the sub-national level.
Permanent Secretary in the Common Services Office under the HCSF, Danjuma Kalba, said the retreat was vital to harmonise the methodologies of 15 cluster consultants prior to field deployment.
“Each HR company may provide a different method if left alone, which may lead to different results. The retreat is to ensure a harmonised approach to produce credible and reliable data,” he remarked.
