The new head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, has assured that she will reinvigorate the civil service by using innovation to achieve a more efficient and effective bureaucracy.
Walson-Jack gave the assurance when she assumed duty yesterday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Bola Tinubu appointed Walson-Jack as the new HOCSF on July 17, to take effect on August 14.
Her appointment followed the exit of Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, who completed her tenure and retired on the same date.
Walson-Jack joined the Federal Civil Service in 2009 and was appointed Permanent Secretary in 2017.
Before her appointment, she served in several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including the office of the HOCSF, Ministries of Niger Delta Affairs, Power, Water Resources and Sanitation and lately, Ministry of Education.
On assumption of duty, Walson-Jack pledged continuity on already established reforms in the service by her predecessors as encapsulated in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP25).
“My plans for the civil service is to reinvigorate it using innovation and creativity to ensure that we have a more efficient and effective bureaucracy and one that will deliver on the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
“For now, we will be working basically on the reforms that were already on grounds, we must sustain them and definitely we will like to increase the tempo.
“I know that we can sustain them and take them to the next level, “she pledged.
The HOCSF also used the occasion to appreciate Tinubu for the privilege given her to serve in such capacity, saying that she would not disappoint him and the entire nation.
“To Mr President, I say thank you very much, Your Excellency, for the privilege given to serve in such a capacity.
“I will like to reiterate that I will not disappoint Mr President and I will like to say that with God on my side, I will also definitely not disappoint Nigerians, “she said.
Nevertheless, she sought the cooperation of all civil servants to work in unity and achieve the service’s needed goals, as she could not do it alone.
“For the civil servants, I come as a servant of all and definitely I know that I cannot do it alone.
“I am asking for full cooperation, full support and I will like us to work in unity to achieve the goals of this administration,”she pleaded.
Responding on behalf of the staff, Mr Raymond Omachi, permanent secretary, Common Services Office, assured her of the maximum cooperation as they worked with the former HOCSF, Dr Yemi-Esan.
“I want to say that as we supported your predecessor to succeed, we will support you and you will succeed, we will be loyal to you and we will do whatever that will make you to succeed in your mandate,” he said.
(NAN)
