Walson-Jack charges new perm secs to champion ethical leadership, drive paperless civil service by December 2025

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Didi Walson-Jack, at the weekend charged five newly appointed Permanent Secretaries to deliver purposeful leadership amid ongoing reforms, prioritizing ethical standards and accelerating the Federal Civil Service’s push toward a fully paperless system by December 31, 2025.

Speaking at a two-day induction programme in Abuja, Walson-Jack congratulated the appointees—Abdulkarim Ibrahim, John
Ezeamama, Abdul Garba, Ishiyaku Mohammed, and Ukaire Chigbowu—whose selections reflect merit, competence, and years of distinguished service in critical service-wide offices essential for governance coordination.

***Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, former Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office, Fatima Mahmood and the five (5) Newly Appointed Permanent Secretaries***

She described their timing as a “pivotal moment,” entrusting them with steering government machinery to fulfill national goals under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Digitalisation emerged as a core focus, with the HCSF calling it the “bedrock of transparency and modern governance,” urging the leaders to champion the transition decisively while leading by example.

“You are custodians of institutional memory, architects of system stability, catalysts of reform, and guardians of ethical Public Service values,” Walson-Jack declared, emphasising their expansive mandate to uphold the highest ethical standards and produce citizen-impacting results. This aligns with the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025 (FCSSIP25), which targets a world-class, digitally empowered service through initiatives like the 1Gov Cloud platform for unified workflows, GovMail, and GovDrive.
Former Permanent Secretary of the Career Management Office, Fatima Mahmood, welcomed the group earlier, framing the induction as a “defining leadership transition” in their careers and the start of a phase requiring “clarity, courage, discipline, and a deep commitment to the ideals of the Federal Civil Service.” Resource persons, including policy experts and administrators, delivered insights, tools, and frameworks to bolster their roles in policy formulation and reforms.