The chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Professor Tunji Olaopa, on Wednesday, December 13, said the first charge of the commission under him is to deal with corrupt elements soiling the service’s image.
Professor Olaopa said this while speaking to journalists after his swearing-in as the chairman of the FCSC along with eleven other members of the Commission.
President Bola Tinubu had performed a swearing-in ceremony for the FCSC members as well as the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) earlier in the day, ahead of the week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, Abuja.
However, responding to a question about what he intended to do about reports and cases of corruption in the civil service, Olaopa, who said he was disturbed by the situation, said he would be working with security and law enforcement agencies in the process of redeeming the service’s image.
He said: “Certainly it’s very disturbing. The commission, by its conception, is supposed to be a beacon of integrity and those that founded, our predecessors in the glorious days of the service, gave Civil Service Commission a great name.
“So I’m disturbed by the whole cash-and-carry reputation that the commission… and for me, we’ll do everything possible, in collaboration with some of the intelligence and security agencies, to make a few scapegoats and communicate a new image for the Service Commission.
“That will be our first charge and we would all be committed to bringing back values, institutional values, to the public service of Nigeria”, he said.
“The charge given to us indicates that the administration has put the Civil Service in the Renewed Hope Agenda. So there is a specific charge for every stakeholder, including the Office of the Head of Service, to collaborate, to come to the sense that the Civil Service has challenges and that we need to reposition.
“We need to beef up the capability readiness, we need to modernize by deploying technology. We need to reinstitute professionalism and competency-based human resource management. We need to move this Civil Service to a position where they could help governments to deliver on its agenda and that we are poised to be able to do.
“From the end of the Civil Service Commission, we want to rebrand this commission. We want a commission that represents the integrity phase of the Civil Service. We want a commission that promotes the cherished values of the public service in everything that it does”, he said.
Also speaking to journalists, the new ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, said he would be leading the Commission by example, just as he hopes to work to realize the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“I have taken the oath of office, I’ll abide by the oath of office, and I will discharge my duties in accordance with the ICPC Act, to support the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President. I want to assure Nigerians and Mr. President that I will lead by example and I’ll also live above board and I will abide by my oath of office.”
