By Violet Osatohanmwen Obamwonyi
The maiden edition of the International Civil Service (ICS) Conference themed “Rejuvenate, Innovate and Accelerate,” which held in Abuja, marked a pivotal moment for the Public Sector transformation in Nigeria and beyond, especially with the presentation of the Edo State Model on breaking silos and promoting inter-units within the Service.
The Conference brought together not fewer than 5000 delegates and participants from across Nigeria’s Federal and states’ civil services, as well as representatives from other countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Morocco; representing a global and intergenerational focus.
In a keynote address, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, described the Conference as historic and a strategic step toward redefining public administration in an era of dynamic global change. He asserted that the Civil Service stands as the bedrock of governance, an engine of innovation, strategy and public trust; serving as a vital driver of national transformation.
President Tinubu remarked, “The Civil Service is always there as the fountain of knowledge and reservoir to bring the future together. It is an innovative institution that ensures today’s needs are met and tomorrow’s challenges are overcome. As Civil servants, you are not just the backbone of effective administration across borders, but you are the essence of it all. You are the vehicle through which government delivers public goods to the people. Your role as quiet architects of strategy, innovation and public trust is invaluable. At the heart of our Renewed Hope Agenda is a public service that works effectively, efficiently for every Nigerian. Your role in our Transformation Agenda is highly indispensable.”
The President commended the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Dr. (Mrs.) Didi Esther Walson-Jack, for exemplary leadership and effective implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP) 2021–2025. He extoled her digital transformation efforts of prioritizing continuous learning and the recent launch of “Service GPT;” a home-grown artificial intelligence solution developed to improve policy execution, efficiency, and performance tracking in the Civil Service.
The HCSF asserted that the Conference served as a strategic platform for redefining governance in the modern era, with over 30 participating nations committed to building a smarter, more inclusive public sector anchored on technology, integrity, and innovation. She underscored the need for the Civil Service to evolve into a hub for agile, resilient and solution-driven governance, calling for a decisive shift from planning to implementation; ideas to measurable change.
According to her, “We are gathered as reformers, thinkers, practitioners and doers bound together by a common belief that the Civil Service remains one of the greatest instruments of national development and global stability. Before now, our systems were outdated; processes very slow, citizens became frustrated. The world challenges demanded more than we were giving and we needed to change our ways of doing things. Transformation does not begin with big budget or glossy report but with one person who dares to say it begin with me.
“This Conference is a declaration that Public Service must no longer lag behind; our commitment is to live bold. I urge all public servants to bring their best ideas and open heart and be prepared to serve as we have never done. We will listen deeply to challenges; respectfully collaborate intentionally and leave here renewed with our mission to build a public service that truly serves and delivers the promises of good governance. Our mission is clear; to have an efficient, accountable and transparent Service.”
Dr. (Mrs.) Walson-Jack advised, “Let us seize this moment to strengthen partnerships, ignite transformative ideas and reaffirm our collective commitment to a world-class civil service that serves with excellence and accountability.”
The Edo State Head of Service (HOS), Dr. Anthony Okungbowa, as a lead discussant during a panel session, presented a paper titled, “Breaking Down Functional Silos: Building a Culture of Inter-Unit Cooperation,” where he emphasized the detrimental effects of siloed operations within the Public Service. He stated that functional silos may manifest at three levels; within individual units, where officers, either consciously or unconsciously, operate as “One-man squad” in the execution of duties. Another is within ministries or agencies, where departments function in isolation from one another. The third is at the broader institutional level, where ministries and agencies carry out mandates independently, often unaware of related activities in other government entities.
Dr. Okungbowa while commending the HCSF for her brilliant initiative to host the Conference, underscored that civil servants remain the most critical actors in the governance architecture, as they persist beyond the tenure of political office holders. He asserted that their competence or lack of requisite skills has a lasting impact on the continuity and quality of governance.
The Edo State HOS strongly criticized the persistent culture of isolationism among public officers, urging all departments and agencies to conduct what he termed a “Collaborative audit,” a reflective management exercise aimed at assessing inter-unit synergy. He quoted Otto V. Bismarch, saying, “A civil servant who is in the habit of building silos or participating in or encouraging or facilitating the construction of silos in the Civil Service, is that civil servant with whom even the best laws cannot work.
“If a civil servant chooses to build walls rather than bridges and becomes territorial; hoarding vital information, knowledge or expertise, capacity of his/her unit to deliver on its assigned role is hampered and this directly affects the capacity of the department, ministry/agency and by extension, of the Service to deliver on its mandate. Ultimately the capacity of the Government to deliver on its responsibility is also impacted negatively, thus bringing about a lack of satisfactory service delivery.
“When you engage in hands-on management of your Unit, you begin to recognize that territorial tendencies and silo mentalities are real and must be addressed for the system to thrive. People are territorial they do not want to cooperate with other units and agencies; everybody wants to hoard information and one of the things we have tried to do in Edo is to no longer manage the Service in a conventional way, in that traditional and transactional way where, whether what you do as a civil servant impacts on the system or not, it goes, it does not matter. We are now increasingly strategic.
As part of efforts to address the challenges posed by functional silos in Edo, the HOS, advocated the importance of fostering open communication within the public service. He referenced a series of strategic initiatives introduced by his Office to enhance collaboration and transparency, including regular departmental meetings, structured feedback mechanisms and flagship engagement platforms such as the “Breakfast meeting,” a forum that brings together all departments under the Office of the HOS for updates and dialogue.
Dr. Okungbowa cited the “Ward round”, which entails routine visits to and interactions with ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to monitor and support the implementation of the Edo State’s e-governance platform. He recommended “An evening with the Head of Service,” a platform that serves as an informal yet impactful engagement session where issues relating to official responsibilities, workplace conditions, staff welfare and other matters of concerns could be openly discussed.
Dr. Okungbowa explained, “the essence of these initiatives was to generate conversations with comments and feedbacks from public servants across board. The Conference was also attended by some members of the National Assembly, honorable ministers; representatives from the Global Government Forum, several international partners, amongst others.
