Tinubu Moves to Reform Civil Service, Orders System-Wide Audit

In a determined drive to restructure Nigeria’s public sector, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed a complete personnel audit and skills gap study across the Federal Civil Service. The directive was announced on Thursday, at the start of the 2025 International Civil Service Week in Abuja.

The initiative’s goal is to build capacity, increase efficiency, and position the civil service to better deliver public goods and support national growth.

“We can only guarantee a high-performance culture by placing the right people in the right positions,” Tinubu, our president, said. “To that end, I have authorised a full Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis across the Federal Civil Service to build capacity.”

The president underlined the importance of the civil service in effective government, calling it as “the engine room” of the country’s administrative and development endeavors.

“Our civil servants are the quiet architects of stability, innovation, and public trust,” said Mr. Obama.

The audit is part of a larger initiative to align Nigeria’s civil service with international best practices and facilitate the transition to digital governance. Tinubu emphasized his administration’s commitment to evidence-based policy, emphasizing the need of reliable and secure data.

“Data is the new oil.” “Unlike oil, it becomes more valuable when refined and responsibly shared,” he said.

To promote openness and data protection, the president mandated that all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) disclose verified data in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

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President Tinubu also applauded the continuing reforms under the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025, commending the Civil Service’s Head, Dr. Didi Walson-Jack, for her leadership in promoting innovation and digital transformation.

“Launching Service-Wise GPT and other innovations reflects exceptional leadership,” he told me.

Dr. Walson-Jack highlighted during her remarks that the event was entirely self-funded through strategic collaborations and imaginative preparation. She emphasized the necessity of a world-class civil service in fulfilling Nigeria’s African leadership goals.

“If Nigeria must lead Africa, our civil service must lead first,” according to her.

The reforms are a crucial step toward establishing a contemporary, nimble, and results-oriented public sector capable of satisfying citizens’ needs in the digital age.