The Federal Civil Service Commission has disclosed that the major issue confronting Nigeria’s civil service is not overpopulation, but a widespread mismatch of skills and underutilisation of staff.
This was revealed by the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Tunji Olaopa, during the unveiling of the commission’s inaugural strategic plan at a three-day retreat held in Abuja from June 30 to July 2, 2025.
Olaopa stated that Nigeria’s federal workforce is relatively small by global standards, but lacks the capacity needed to meet national development goals due to obsolete skills and redundant personnel.
“If you benchmark the workforce of the federal civil service against other countries, you’ll find that our workforce is actually small. But the problem is we have a huge number of staff, most of whom lack the requisite skills to function, while the skills that the system needs are scarce,” he said.
To address this, Olaopa outlined a range of reforms, including the rollout of a new performance management system, retraining and redeploying redundant staff, and offering incentivised voluntary exit schemes.
“This is about putting the right people in the right roles and building a civil service that supports national priorities,” he added.
The commission’s newly unveiled strategic plan—spanning 2025 to 2029—is designed to reposition the civil service as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s ambition to grow into a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
According to Olaopa, “The civil service must no longer be seen as a stifler of economic growth. We are reengineering the Federal Civil Service Commission to be performance-driven, reform-oriented, and aligned with the President’s vision.”
He noted that the strategic pivot followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive during the inauguration of the current commission in December 2023, where the president tasked the body with transforming, digitising, and reorienting the federal bureaucracy for economic acceleration.
At the heart of the commission’s roadmap is a shift toward a merit-based, digitally-enabled recruitment and promotion system. Olaopa explained that the commission has begun implementing reforms that prioritise transparency and accountability.
“For the first time, vacancies were publicly advertised and applications processed online. We want to attract the brightest Nigerians into the civil service,” he said.
Among the key pillars of the strategy are institutionalising performance measurement, rewarding excellence, eliminating patronage in recruitment, and making civil service roles more responsive to economic demands.
“Our strategic plan is structured to transform the service into an engine of national growth, not a deadweight,” Olaopa affirmed.
He concluded by emphasizing the need for a performance-first culture across ministries, departments, and agencies, calling the plan a foundational step toward building a future-ready, high-impact civil service.
“The $1 trillion goal is not a political slogan. It is a strategic target, and the civil service must play a defining role in achieving it,” he declared.
