Federal Public Service Reform

2007 to 2009

£4 million

Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF)

Project management; public administration reform; adult education; rural water supply; training; monitoring and evaluation; communications; human resource management; organisational development

This HTSPE-managed (DFID funded) contract supported civil service reform in Nigeria’s Federal Government.  The immediate short-term priorities were to tackle payroll fraud, remove ghost workers and large numbers of redundant posts, facilitate a process of organisational restructuring, improve service delivery standards, and start a process of pay reform that would provide incentives for good quality staff to come into the service and stay there. 

Civil service reform is a politically contentious process, particularly in the capital city Abuja where much economic activity revolves around the machinery of the federal government.  A key challenge of this assignment is therefore to present reform as being about more than job cuts.  The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), which fulfils many of the functions of a State government in Nigeria’s federal system, is the key service provider for the Abuja area.  It has an important role to play in demonstrating that restructuring and the reduction of excess staffing costs can free up resources – and reallocate staff – to improve service delivery in the Territory.  In doing so it can communicate a clear message that reform is about improving the performance of government, not cost-cutting for its own sake. 

HTSPE was contracted by DFID to manage its programme of support to pilot ministries and central civil service agencies.  HTSPE’s support to the reform process took three forms:

1. Support to the Federal Government of Nigeria to develop a clear road map for sustainable improvements to the performance of the public sector;
2. Ensuring that service delivery pilots effectively demonstrated the benefits of restructuring and reform for service delivery;
3. Strengthening central Civil Service Agencies to enable them to make a positive contribution to the reform process.

The immediate focus was to review the reforms which had already taken place under the leadership of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in five pilot ministries, and ascertain what support was required to further the reform process.

Responsibility for the implementation and execution of the reform programme remained firmly within Nigerian institutions. 

Support was provided to the key civil service agencies to enable them to lead the reform process.  This included the Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR), the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), and the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).

Great emphasis was on facilitating the process of Nigeria-led reform to ensure the sustainability and appropriateness of the outcomes.  Extensive support was given to the process of developing a National Strategy for Reforms, which involved substantial consultation with a range of stakeholders to ensure as large a buy-in as possible.

The service improvement pilots focussed on the FCTA, as this organisation is the key service delivery agency based within the FCT.  FPSR supported two projects to achieve visible improvements in services provided.  Each pilot has a logical link to the organisational restructuring of the civil service – either because restructuring of staff is integral to the project, or because money saved from eliminating payroll ghosts and redundant posts can be used to improve services in the long run.  The pilots emerged from a consultation process that the FCTA carried out in developing a poverty reduction strategy document for the Territory.   Priorities included education, water and roads.

Our assistance to the Civil Service of Nigeria included:

• Review of the right-sizing efforts within the FCTA
• Assessment of the reforms efforts within the pilot ministries to April 2007
• Scoping, design and implementation of two Service Improvement Pilots (in rural water and adult education), to provide tangible improvement in service delivery, and to highlight the direct link between reforms and this improved service delivery to citizens
• Design, funding, and monitoring and evaluation of a Challenge Fund, to enable civil service departments to assess their own needs and take the lead on reforming to provide better services
• Organisational Reviews of BPSR, FCSC and OHCSF
• Review of Pay and Benefits, particularly for Scarce Specialist Skills (SSSs)
• Assistance to the development of a Communications Strategy within BPSR, and the funding of an individual to lead the process within the Bureau to communicate the benefits of reform to the public service and the wider public
• Assistance to the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation framework within BPSR, and the funding of an individual to lead M&E within the Bureau in the short-term and build the capacity of staff within the M&E Unit
• Contributing to the Public Service Reform strategy for Nigeria
• Training of 14 high level public servants to enable them to lead the reform process within their own Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)
• In-country training of over 160 public servants on Change Management, Human Resource Management and Development, M&E, and Project & Programme Management
• Organisational Development Plans for key agencies leading the reform process