The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Power, Mahmuda Mamman, has harped on the key role of the Federal civil service to the development of Nigeria, just like in any other nation of the world,
He spoke at the Abuja National Mosque on Friday after prayers were offered for the Federal Civil Service, marking the beginning of the 2025 Civil Service Week.
According to him, there are ongoing reforms under the current dispensation to make the service digital and at per with global best practices.
He said "The civil Service Day is an annual event celebrated to celebrate the achievement of what the Civil Service has recorded over the years. And this year's theme of the civil service is to rejuvenate and accelerate, as the theme implies.
"And you heard from the sermon of the Imam, without the civil service, there would be no meaningful development in any nation. And that was why we came, we prayed that the good Allah should give us the strength for the civil service in Nigeria, in line with the reform agenda that is being implemented service wide, so that the civil service can be transparent, accountable, incorruptible, for us to be able to achieve the aspirations of what we want to do."
To reposition the service, he said "The civil service is currently implementing some reform programs, the federal civil service strategy and implementation program, FC 25 is a successor of the FC 20 and this reforms program are actually implemented to ensure that whatever we want the civil service to do actually is intended.
"So among the pillars of the reforms is that we have the digitization concept. And the main thrust of the digitization is to ensure transparency, accountability in all our processes.
"And once we are transparent, accountable, there is no reason why we should not be able to achieve the development objectives of the nation, and that is why I say it has also aligned with vision and mission of Mr. President Renewed Hope agenda.
"So the Civil service, as it is today, is efficient, productive and incorruptible, in line with the ethic culture of the service."
Asked what is been done to ensure that the Federal Civil Service compares favorably with others across the globe, he said that some collaboration is presently ongoing in that direction.
"As part of the policies, the civil service is actually collaborating and partnering with international organizations and also other countries of the world.
"We are partnering with the government of UAE. We are partnering with Singapore and the UK to make sure that we learn from the best practices of all over the world, to make sure that the service in Nigeria is also value oriented and result oriented.
"And that was why, as it is now, I can say that this is a new civil service that is being promoted by the present head of the civil service." he stated
Also speaking to journalists, the Imam, Abuja National Mosque, Prof. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, charged the service to be transparent and devoid of corruption.
"We prayed for them and urged them to do the right thing, transparency, offering services devoid of corruption, doing things for the sake of Nigerians, and it is that that will uplift our own county." he said