The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has declared that the global civil service must be urgently reimagined and rebuilt with bold ideas, inclusive purpose, and courageous leadership to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.
Speaking in Abuja at the opening of the inaugural International Civil Service Conference, Walson-Jack described the event as a defining moment for governments around the world to break from outdated bureaucratic systems and confront 21st-century challenges with innovation, speed, and reform-driven action.
Hosted by the Federal Government of Nigeria in partnership with the Global Government Forum UK, the high-level gathering drew participants from Africa, Europe, and Asia, including civil service leaders, policymakers, development partners, and reform advocates.
Walson-Jack told delegates that the global civil service is at a crossroads, with many countries, especially in Africa, still operating under administrative systems built for a different era.
She cited growing public expectations, climate shocks, digital disruption, and pandemics as evidence that the traditional structures of government can no longer deliver at the scale and speed required.
According to her, Nigeria has already begun implementing critical reforms to reposition its civil service as a catalyst for national development. These include automating operations through an Enterprise Content Management System, linking individual performance targets to national development goals, and strengthening the capacity of training institutions such as the Public Service Institute of Nigeria and the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria.
She emphasised that these reforms are already yielding tangible results and not just policy ambitions.
The conference, she said, is designed to push beyond talk and deliver practical solutions, foster cross-border collaboration, and spotlight tested innovations that can be adapted to local contexts.
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She further disclosed that delegates will engage with real-world examples of transformational public service delivery from Ghana’s e-governance system to Kenya’s institutional accountability models and Singapore’s AI-powered service architecture.
Walson-Jack said the conference would also serve as a stock-taking forum for Nigeria’s ongoing reform blueprint, the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP 25), while forging new global and regional partnerships to sustain reform momentum.
She called on young public servants, gender equality advocates, data scientists, and policy thinkers present at the forum to see themselves not as the future of the civil service but as its present drivers of transformation.
“You are not the future of public service. You are its present. Your creativity, your courage, and your conviction will define whether we succeed in rejuvenating, innovating, and accelerating the transformation we seek,” she declared.
She urged participants to leave the conference with a mission not just to reflect, but to act—insisting that business as usual is no longer acceptable.
