Oyo-Ita: FG To Save 120bn From New Civil Service Strategy Plan

Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, says the Federal Government stands to save between N60-120 billion naira from the implementation of the 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP).

Oyo-Ita disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing the newly inaugurated Project Management Teams (PMTs) in a 3-day retreat holding in Calabar, Cross River State.

The PMTs inaugurated on December 7, 2017, was set-up as life-wires to drive priority initiatives of the 3-year strategy and implementation plan.

The Head of Service explained that the plan, which is In line with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth plan, will charter a new course for the service with a view to make it Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible and Citizen-centred (EPIC).

“The implementation of the strategy is expected to deliver N60-N120 billion savings from cleaning human resource data on Integrated Personnel and Pay Roll Information System (IPPIS), N2.5 billion annual savings from digitizing content, and at least 25,000 civil servants trained through revamped core modules.”

She explained that the Strategy, which has a 100 percent chance of success, is crucial to the success of the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

Oyo-Ita was quick to point out that unlike the failures of the past administrations, who came up with “beautiful plans” without implementation, her administration has taken adequate steps to learn from past errors.

The Head of Service further stated that the new Strategy is the first reform that is home-grown, adding that others in the past have been facilitated by the World Bank and other foreign bodies.

She urged the PMTs to take the opportunity seriously as they will be part of a caucus that created a world-class Service.

Oyo-Ita said: “This is a Civil Service reform that is home-grown, it is not brought to us by the World Bank or some foreign loaner, it is thinktank output which has resulted in a strategy document that we believe can push the service to a world-class level that we have all been praying for.

“We crafted this plan along with the civil service agenda for improvement in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan and the National Strategy for Policy and Service Reforms, so this implementation plan is working in line with the Economic vision of the country.

“We identified one critical cause of failure of past reforms, we examined the need to have a governance structure, we need to implement these reforms on a day-to-day basis, we also need to micro-manage the actualisation of these reforms.

“It is this project management teams that have been set-up based on the 8 key priority area, and each priority area is being governed by one project management team, brought from across the service.

“It is a program that have been developed by civil servants and it is going to be implemented by civil servants.”

On her part, representative of the Africa Initiative for Governance, Mrs Chinasa, congratulated the Head of Service for the initiative in repositioning the Civil Service in delivering its duties to the Nigerian people.

Recall that in April, 2017, the Head of Service, Oyo-Ita , signed a memorandum of understanding between the AIG and OHCSF to drive a 3-year strategic plan to transform the Civil Service and create an efficient, productive, incorruptible and citizen-centred culture.