From Civil Servants To System Shapers: Rethinking The Role Of Public Sector Workers In Nigeria

By Nonny P. Ugboma, PhD

As the world marked International Workers’ Day on the 1st of May and engaged in important conversations around wages, welfare, and working conditions, I found myself reflecting on a deeper question: what kind of public servants does Nigeria need to deliver public value and meaningful development outcomes in the years ahead? Beyond the annual rituals of recognition, this moment invites a more fundamental rethinking of the role of the public worker in a country where the demands on the state are growing in complexity and urgency.

My immediate thought is that Nigeria does not just need efficient and well-paid administrators; rather, it needs capability-driven, public value-focussed transformation agents. It needs individuals who are equipped not only to manage systems, but to rethink, coordinate, and improve them. This aligns with what the renowned political scientist and public administrator, Professor Tunji Olaopa, calls for: “new professionals” who will drive the administrative engine of the Nigerian Civil Service of the future. Professionals who are defined not just by their technical competence, but by their ability to shape systems, solve problems, and deliver outcomes that truly matter for long term public value creation.

The Historical Shape of Nigeria’s Civil Service

The Nigerian Civil Service, as it exists today, is deeply shaped by its historical evolution. The colonial civil service was not really designed for development; rather, it was built for control, extraction, and order. Structures were rigid, hierarchical, and compliance driven. Following independence, the process of Nigerianisation of the civil service focussed on scale and not necessarily on capability building. The priority became expanding the system to reflect national ownership, but this expansion did not always come with a parallel investment in skills, systems, and institutional learning.

Subsequent reforms attempted to modernise the system, but these were mostly structural, rather than focused on capabilities, incentives, learning, and innovation. In effect, form was prioritised over function. Essentially, the system has historically prioritised rule compliance and structure over capability and creativity, and process adherence over problem-solving. Therefore, for the civil service of today and the future to be the strong implementing partner of government, the system’s focus needs to shift to have strong sense-making, connecting, and shaping dynamic capabilities to enable public servants to deliver public value for the citizens.

The Civil Servant as a System Shaper

This is the core proposition of this article: the role of the civil servant must be reframed. The civil service role needs to shift from being a market fixer to a market shaper (as emphasised in the work of Professor Mariana Mazzucato); from being a paper pusher and rule enforcer to a problem solver; from being a policy implementer to a public value co-creator; and from being an administrator of government policies to a dynamic, mission-oriented coordinator of government priorities. This reframing is not theoretical but very practical. It recognises that modern governance is complex, interdependent, and requires more than administrative compliance. It requires strategic thinking, collaboration, and innovation. Essentially, civil servants should not just “deliver services” but actively shape markets, coordinate actors, and drive public value creation. To achieve this, the Nigerian Civil Service must invest deliberately in dynamic capabilities.

What Dynamic Capabilities Look Like in Practice

Dynamic capabilities move institutions from static execution to adaptive performance. These are not abstract ideas; they are already emerging in pockets across government institutions in Nigeria where teams are beginning to move beyond siloed operations and toward coordinated, outcome-driven approaches. Some practical pointers from my recent research illustrate how agencies have used sense-making, connecting, and shaping routines to positive effect. Sense-making allows public servants to interpret complex realities. Connecting enables them to build coalitions across institutions. Shaping empowers them to influence outcomes rather than merely respond to them. Together, these capabilities redefine what effective public service looks like.

In practice, this means using data not just for reporting, but for real-time decision- making. It also involves adopting an ecosystem approach and cross-ministry collaboration to solve key societal problems as well as embedding feedback loops to work collaboratively with different actors, ministries, and stakeholders to co-create solutions that enable the creation of public value. Despite Nigeria’s overall classification as a hesitant reformer by Professor Ladipo Adamolekun, there exist pockets of capability within the Nigerian Civil Service. There are existing public organisations known to perform exceptionally well in this environment. Their experiences demonstrate that dynamic capabilities are not merely theoretical but can be built and sustained.

Redesigning Public Sector Competencies and Capabilities

Achieving this shift requires deliberate and fundamental changes across three critical levers, namely: recruitment, training, and incentives.

First, recruitment needs to move from credential-based to problem-solving ability, versatility, and diversity of skill sets. The future civil servant must be adaptive,  analytical, and collaborative. Second, training needs to move from one-off, individualistic interventions to sustained investment in learning ecosystems. The goal should be continuous, shared learning that strengthens institutional capability, not just individual advancement. Third, incentives need to move from rewarding compliance, actions taken, or budgets spent, to rewarding outcomes, innovation, and collaboration. What gets measured and rewarded ultimately shapes behaviour.

A New Social Contract with Public Workers

At the heart of this transformation is a new social contract with the civil service and public sector workers. This is a two-sided contract: investment from the state, and accountability from the civil service system.

First, there needs to be a recalibration in how public servants are perceived. Instead of viewing them through the narrow lens of inefficiency and constraint, they should be enabled by government investment as strategic actors and not just as cost centres. This means providing the right tools, building relevant skills, and creating an institutional environment where performance is possible and expected.

On their part, civil servants must be held accountable to higher standards of responsibility and impact. The expectation must shift from administrative competence alone to dynamic capability, anchored in innovation, collaboration, and a clear focus on public value.

It is therefore pertinent, amidst the celebrations, to state that the future of this institution lies in deliberately building a generation of system shapers. The next phase of Nigeria’s development will be delivered by systems that sense-make, connect, and shape. The question is not whether Nigeria can afford to reform its civil service, but whether it can afford not to. And at the centre of that shift is the civil servant, not just as an administrator, but as a driver of sustained public value and transformational development.

– Dr Ugboma is a corporate leader, board director, and public value advisor with over 25 years of experience spanning finance, corporate social investment, and institutional development. She holds a PhD in Innovation and Public Policy from University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).