The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Professor Tunji Olaopa, has asserted that experts are unwilling to work in public service because of what he described as a poor compensation and pay system.
According to him, for the government to be restored as an employer of choice, pay and compensation matters must be resolved in the core civil service.
Olaopa stated this when he paid a courtesy call to the Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Ekpo Nta, Esq., in his office. This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by Taiwo Hassan, Head, Press & Public Relations, FCSC, on Sunday in Abuja.
Olaopa noted that the government has inadvertently institutionalised a policy where “we recruit one thousand mediocre to do work that can be done by one hundred and fifty experts just because no experts want to work in public service due to its poor compensation and pay system.”.
He advocated that the present military approach to salary and wage negotiation should move to more scientific methods that would be strengthened by social protection measures.
He stated that based on the charges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave to the new board and following his rapid assessment carried out as soon as the board was inaugurated in December 2023, it was not only to re-engineer the Federal Civil Service Commission within the human resource value chain but also to touch on the larger reforms that led to his various engagements with the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and the Office of the Secretary to the Government, among others, in order to widen the conversation.
He commended Nta for his seminal breath into the conversation of wages and salaries, saying that the reform being contemplated by FCSC presently is the kind of reform advocacy he has championed while he was in service.
The Chairman, who was at the event with some Hon. Commissioners and the FCSC Permanent Secretary, noted that the biggest issue in development management in Nigeria is weak institutions.
According to him, the institutional capacity of Nigeria’s bureaucracy is very weak. He added that the IQ of services in the public sector cannot carry institutional dynamism in the sector.
He noted that, as a person with ideation orientation, reform thinking, and reform design, a seminal network was needed to remedy the situation with some cross-pollination of ideas and expertise, like the overture and engagement he has with the Office of the Senior Special Assistant on Policy Coordination, headed by Hadiza Bala Usman.
He stated that traditional bureaucratic public service created a platform for different expertise to come in and created seamless interactions among public administrators, academics, and consultants in the industry.
He added that in his own generation, there was a seeming anti-intellectualism with a tendency to regard anything that is rigorous as too technical, which made research findings hardly accepted in public service, including in policy formulations, operations, and implementations.
He disclosed that part of building the capacity of the service was his various engagements with stakeholders like the National Salaries Commission, the Income and Wages Commission, and others.
Olaopa believed this would go a long way in closing policy gaps, in addition to policy collaboration to deepen policy engagements, institutionalise reforms, and deepen research.
While recollecting his workings with experts in Botswana, Tanzania, and South Africa, Olaopa said the Nigerian environment is not public sector-conducive, which brings paid technical partners and consultants to do the job, saying this was bad for Nigeria’s public service.
Olaopa further disclosed that there is a breakdown of competency-based human-resource management that lacks the necessary IQ, which has been made worse by the way the country manages the Federal Character Policy.
He said the issue of pay and compensation is a game of numbers. He called for a serious re-grading, job evaluation, re-thinking of the whole structure, and clear policy and guidelines on the creation and winding-up of institutions. He added that so many institutions were created, later bloated, and their staff dumped eventually into the civil service without strict treasury considerations.
He revealed that a lot of operational activities in FCSC are archaic, outmoded, and not ICT-driven, which has not impacted FCSC processes. Hence, the current rethinking is to go full digitization, which would make the whole process smarter and more agile.
The Chairman observed that performance-related pay is a tricky issue to discuss, noting, however, that the government has set up a change management process called “performance management bond,” which is a core instrument in performance management.
When talking about the indexation of wages to inflation and other variables, Olaopa said the key issue is not wages or salaries but some of the non-pecuniary benefits. He disclosed that the pay policy being worked upon by the Salaries and Wages Commission would help guide the entire management of the pay administration system.
He said having a competitive wage will clarify a lot of the various uncertainties around this conversation, saying it is high time for the country to practice de-centralization within fiscal federalism, where states pay salaries according to their ability. Hence, some states are still paying the N18,000 minimum wage.
Responding, Mr. Ekpo Nta, Esq., thanked the FCSC Chairman for his visits. He stated that the engagement has brought about a very robust discourse between the organisations.
Flanked by members of his management team, the chairman said he was impressed with what Olaopa was trying to do at the commission by changing its narrative, where the commission is only known for recruitment and promotions.
He said employment in the civil service is not competence-driven, which leads to over-bloating in the service.
Drawing from COVID-19 experience, he said with grade level 12 and below staying away from work for over a year at that time, and grade level 13–17 officers handling the entire work in the service brought a lean workforce in a cost-effective manner.
He further disclosed that 156 staff in his commission run the entire national salary, income, and wage activities of the country.
He advised the FCSC Chairman to digitise its recruitment, promotion, and discipline operations. He emphasised that promotion should not be based on seniority but on performance.
He said cost of living adjustments for salaries and pay do not need to be done haphazardly but based on the mechanism of real and appropriate wages tied to the market variable and cost of living.
