THURSDAY, MAY 8 2008
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HSOF commends Singaporean public service
From ATIKU S. SARKI, Abuja
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOSF), Engr. Ebele O. Okeke, has commended the Singaporean public service for working in partnership with their political leaders in moving the country from a developing nation to one of the leading economic powers in recent years.
She noted that this remarkable feat was achieved within a short time and that this has confirmed the universal notion that accelerated national development can be achieved with a good government and a good public service.
A press release signed and issued by the Chief Press Secretary to HOSF, Mr. Okwudiafor O. Anthony indicated that Engr. Okeke made the statement when she paid a courtesy visit to the Head of the Civil Service of Singapore, Mr. Peter Ho, as part of her visit to Manpower Development Institutions across the globe.
Okeke expressed her appreciation to Singapore for their technical assistance to Nigeria and observed that Nigeria was determined to be in the league of one of the 20 leading economies in the world by year 2020 through the attainment of its vision and objectives alongside President Musa Yar’adua’s 7-point agenda.
She then used the occasion to invite Mr. Peter Ho to visit Nigeria to deliver a public lecture on the success story of Singapore and the role of the public service in nation building .
In his response, Mr. Peter Ho thanked the Head of Service for the visit, pointing out that the country was rising up to the new challenges of the 21st century and that Singaporean Civil Service College through its Centre for Policy Development, was a veritable platform for breeding talented and innovative service.
He reiterated that government was being constantly re-invented through the reform of the public service which is anchored on a programme called “Public Service for the 21st century (PS21)’’ whose trust, he said, is the creation of an empowered public service to meet the trend of global challenges.
Areas of partnership between the Singaporean Civil Service College and Abuja Civil Service College are: Curriculum development and execution of joint programmes; staff exchange, training/fellowship and information exchange on good practices including marketing of programme and institutionalization of cost-recovery measures for sustainable delivering of services/programmes.
