NIGERIA
Nigeria is considering adopting the example provided by fellow African nation Rwanda for its own Public Service reforms.
Head of the Nigerian Federal Public Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita told journalists that a delegation had been sent to the Rwandan capital of Kigali to study how the country recovered from the genocide of the 1990s to become a model of Public Service delivery.
“We have not experienced genocide like Rwanda, but terrorism is wiping out a whole generation in the north-east of our country,” Ms Oyo-Ita (pictured) said.
“So, we felt the need to visit Rwanda and understand how they came out of the difficult period of their history to the point where they have become the flagship nation in Africa in public administration — we want to see how we can apply this approach to the north-east.”
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Public Servants that they will receive salary and pension arrears inherited from the previous administration and believed to be in excess of N740 billion ($A2.9 billion).
“For a start, there is no embargo on promotions in this regime. Again we inherited a lot of outstanding payments from the previous administration,” Mr Buhari said.
“There are concerted efforts, even within the lean resources that have accrued to this Government; we will try to address those arrears of salaries, pensions and even the shortfall in the payment of promotions arrears and debt penalties.”
Mr Buhari said he was supportive of all programs designed to uplift the Public Service.
“The culture of training in the Civil Service will continue to be supported and taken to greater heights so that each Civil Servant will be fully equipped and the Civil Service will be a place that people will envy,” the president said.
Abuja, 12 February, 2019
