By Dwelleth Morountodun
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, has urged the graduating Civil Servants of the Leadership Enhancement and Development Programme (LEAD-P) to put in more effort in order to salvage the nation’s civil service.
She made the disclosure at the graduation ceremony of the first set of LEAD-P on Tuesday in Abuja.
Dr. Yemi-Esan, described the LEAD-P training as a key component of the Federal Civil Service Strategies and Implementation Plan 2025 (FCSSIP25), which aims at addressing the need for strengthening and reinvigorating the workforce through well-structured and sustainable capacity building programmes.
The graduation ceremony, she added is symbolic of the progress recorded, thus far, towards the full implementation of the first pillar of the Federal Civil Service and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP 2021-2025), capacity building, she added.
The Civil Service boss, stated that the rigorous training was aimed at exposing the participants to broad spectrum of knowledge from both the private and the public sectors, explaining that It comprises 43 training modules, out of which 17 are generic, while 23 are sectoral.
This, according to her, positioned them as future leaders, who are dependable, professionally competent and result-oriented.
Speaking further, Dr. Yemi Esan, disclosed that the training programme involved a blended approach which included contact training, online learning and rotational postings, within and outside the public service. The contact training comprises several sessions for the duration for a two-week duration at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN).
The Head of Service, also noted that the rotational postings undergone by participants were structured to enable the trainees have hands-on knowledge and experiences of the various sectors of the national economy.
She used the occasion to announce automatic Housing Loans and the provision of Laptops for each graduand to enhance effective and efficient service delivery, while admonishing them to ensure that the resources of government expended on them produced the desired outcome.
While encouraging the Permanent Secretaries to take over the mentorship of the graduates through periodic assessment, monitoring and performance tracking, she also declared that the LEAD-P graduates will henceforth be under the Pool of the OHCSF.
In his keynote address, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, opined that lack of leadership development for effective succession planning remains the bane of the civil service.
He also made a case for the need to equip Officers, appropriately, through re-skilling and retooling for maximising productivity.
He expressed optimism that as products of LEAD-P, the graduates should be able to demonstrate requisite leadership skills in the formulation and implementation of effective strategies, develop the capabilities needed to increase productivity, identify and improve leadership style, communication skills, art of negotiation, influence and conflict management for efficient service delivery.
He therefore, urged the graduands to make themselves available for the service and be good Ambassadors of LEAD-P and the Nigerian Public Service, as a whole.
Goodwill messages were delivered by both public and private sector partners. The Private sector partners testified as to how enriching and beneficial the programme has been to their different organisations and assured the OHCSF of their continuous collaboration and support, as no nation can achieve success without its civil service, hence the need for the private sectors to support LEAD-P.
