1
Chibuzor Emejor
Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,has explained that
the proposed nationwide personnel audit and skills gap analysis in the Federal Civil Service, would enhance evidence-based planning, recruitment, targeted training, efficient deployment, and transparent succession planning in the Service.
Walson-Jack stated this on Thursday
in Abuja while declaring open a 3-day retreat on the harmonisation of the methodology for the personnel audit and skills gap analysis in the civil service.
It would be recalled that recently President Bola Tinubu ordered the personnel audit and skills gap analysis of the Federal Civil Service.
Explaining the rationale for the personnel audit and skills gap analysis, Walson-Jack said: “The Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis is a national assignment and a foundational reform initiative under the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021- 2025 (FCSSIP25).
“This project will give us what we have long needed: a credible and verifiable personnel database that captures not just numbers, but skills, competencies, and workforce distribution across the Service, amongst others.
“The purpose is clear. We must establish a workforce profile that can be trusted for evidence-based planning, targeted training, efficient deployment, and transparent succession management.
“Without such data, reforms risk being anchored on assumptions. With it, we can direct capacity-building where it is most needed, redeploy resources strategically, and plan for the next generation of Civil Servants.”
The participants at the retreat were made up of Permanent Secretaries, Audit General for the Federation, Members of the Steering Committee of the Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis, Members of the Implementation Committee of the Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis, The Lead Consultants, Phillips Consulting Limited, and 15 Cluster Consultants, among others.
She explained that the 3-day retreat would provide the participants the unique opportunity to scrutinise, interrogate, and refine the methodology that would guide the assignment.
According to her, “The framework we adopt must be practical, comprehensive, and context-sensitive, taking into account the size, diversity, and peculiarities of each MDA in particular and the Federal Civil Service in general.
“The Steering and Implementation Committees will provide policy direction, oversight, and quality assurance.
“The Cluster Consultants must be meticulous, ensuring that data collection and fieldwork are executed diligently.
“The credibility of this exercise, therefore, rests on your professionalism, attention to detail, and fidelity to the agreed methodology.
“By the close of this retreat, we must have a unified and workable methodology that is implementable and capable of serving as a reference point for future reforms.”
In his remarks, the Lead Consultant and Chairman, Philip Consulting, Mr Folunsho Philips, highlighted the enormity of the work, which involves interacting with over 70,000 Federal Civil Servants across the country.
He noted that the job of the team is to verify who is a civil servant, identify capabilities, competencies, and strengths of each individual as well as kinds of jobs which are needed to be filled and the kind of people needed to fill these jobs.
Earlier, Dr Danjuma Kalba, Permanent Secretary, Common Services Office, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation(OHCSF),said the retreat was specifically organised to harmonise the methodology, which the lead consultant and the 15 cluster consultants would use to carry out the assignment.
According to him, the 15 different Human Resource (HR) companies might come with different methods and without harmonisation and adoption of a single framework, the results from the field would be different, which the government in the end, would not be able to harmonise.
End.