Civil Servants Are Corrupt And Lazy, Says President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has
said that Nigeria’s civil service has a
reputation for inefficiency, low
productivity and corruption.

Buhari, who was represented by the
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
stated this on Monday in Abuja at the
inauguration of capacity building
programmes, tagged “Structured
Mandatory Assessment-based
Training Programme and Leadership
Enhancement and Development
Programme”, for public servants.

The President said that Nigeria’s civil
service was declining due to its
inability to articulate a vision and
develop the required capacity to
implement such vision.

Buhari said, “Many, who mourn the
decline of the civil service today from
its days as ‘primus inter pares’ in the
Commonwealth to one which has
earned a reputation for inefficiency,
low productivity, corruption and
insensitivity to the needs of the
public, fall into the error of thinking
that the problem is a poverty of ideas
and capacity on the part of the civil
service; whereas, it is the inability to
clearly articulate a vision, ensure that
the service develops the required
capacity to articulate and implement
the various components of the vision.
“The citizen, regardless of station in
life, must be respected by the
governing authorities and treated
with dignity.

“Flowing from these is the imperative
that our society must be governed by
the rule of law, administered by a
trustworthy, fearless, impartial and
efficient judiciary”.

He described the federal civil
servants as the foot soldiers in
Nigeria’s march to a great destiny,
saying he believed the federal civil
service would not fail Nigerians.

“An army cannot afford indiscipline,
inefficiency or lack of focus,
especially because the hopes and
aspirations of a whole society rest on
your shoulders,” the President said to
the civil servants.

Buhari said the civil servants must
see themselves as servants and
facilitators of commerce and
entrepreneurship and that they must
design policies and remove obstacles
to doing business in Nigeria.

Buhari said the civil service should
provide answers to questions such as
“What are the strategic and financial
planning initiatives important in a
strong private sector led, free market
economy but with a robust social
protection system for the poor
majority?

“What are the crucial
communications to make to the
people in a season requiring sacrifice
and perseverance on account of
falling revenues or for that matter
communicate the position that our
anti-corruption, zero tolerance stand,
is not merely a moral or ethical stand
but a developmental construct that
recognises that corruption if not
apprehended will destroy all
institutions, the economy and
eventually our society?”

Earlier, the Head of the Civil Service
of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi,
said the objective of the programmes
was to address capacity and
leadership challenges in the service.
He noted that the programmes were
funded from the training budgets of
the ministries, departments and
agencies.

He said Buhari, in the absence of
ministers, had helped to restore the
confidence of the civil service by
depending on it for support in
governing the country.

He said the service would support the
incumbent administration in its bid
to bring about positive change in the
country.

Kifasi identified effective leadership
as one of the challenges facing the
civil service.

He stated, “The Leadership
Enhancement and Development
Programme is one of the elements of
the new Leadership Development
Framework for the Federal Civil
Service.

“ LEAD-P will help to identify
potential leaders at the various levels
in the service, nurture developing
leaders and enhance the capacity and
capability of existing leaders.”

“Our decision to restrict foreign
training and promote home-grown
capacity development is what has
made SMAT-P and LEAD-P possible.”

“The programmes are funded
primarily from the training budgets
of the Ministries, Departments and
Agencies and delivered mainly by
Nigerian Management Development
Institutes.

“This means that resources that could
have been lost to foreign training
institutions have been used to
develop and strengthen Nigerian
training institutions.’’