July 2022

Notes from the Executive Vice-Chair

Welcome to the July edition of our newsletter.

We adopt a holistic approach to driving change in the public sector by combining our financial and strategic support of public sector reform initiatives with capacity building opportunities for the civil servants who are responsible for implementing the reforms.  

To this end, in July, we facilitated a study tour to the United Kingdom for the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan and a team of Permanent Secretaries, to meet and interact with current and past members of the UK Civil Service as well as leading academics from the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Benchmarking has long been recognised as an effective performance management tool as it enables organisations identify and implement best practice in their own contexts. The study tour was an opportunity for Nigeria’s top civil servants to learn from the experiences of their UK Civil Service counterparts and to hear from the Oxford University academics about research findings on civil service reforms from around the world.

Applications for the 7^th round of AIG Scholarships are still open, offering an exciting opportunity for exceptional Nigerians currently working in the Nigerian public sector to attend the University of Oxford for one year and undertake a Master’s in Public Policy degree. Please click here for more information.

You can read more about these and other updates in this newsletter.

Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede 

Executive Vice-Chair

RECENT UPDATES 

Alex Chisolm, Chief Operating Officer UK Civil Service and Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation

Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, Sir Mark Sedwill, former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the UK Civil Service, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Professor Ngaire Woods, Dean Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

In July, as part of our efforts to support ongoing reform efforts in the Nigerian Civil Service, we facilitated a study tour to the United Kingdom for the Head of Service of the Civil Service of the Federation and a team of Permanent Secretaries.

The objective of the tour was to learn from the UK government's experience of civil service reform from 1999 to date and to understand their approaches to leadership development, capacity building and talent management. 

During the tour, the group met the Chief Operating Officer of the UK Civil Service, Alex Chisholm, former Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill and a host of other senior officials who shared their experience of driving change and gave key insights on strategic and leadership approaches that have yielded positive results.  

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, Professor Ngaire Woods, Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede

OHCSF DIGITALISATION PROJECT UPDATES

ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP 

The Enterprise Content Management Solution (ECMS) project we are currently collaborating with the OHCSF on, is a pilot for the full digitalisation of the Civil Service, which will lead to improved public service delivery for all Nigerians. The framework we created for the OHCSF ECMS project is intended to be used as a template across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to ensure swift and efficient deployment of ECMS across the service.

To this end, on July 19, 2022, the OHCSF held a one day ECMS roundtable workshop, with representatives from all the MDAs, who will be responsible for managing the digitalisation processes of their various organisations. During the workshop, participants were fully apprised of the steps the OHCSF ECMS project had followed and introduced to the recommended framework for the implementation of their own ECMS projects.

Speaking at the workshop, the Head of Service Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, emphasised the critical role that digitalisation will play in the business operations and processes of the OHCSF and how it would enable the building of a Nigerian Civil Service that is on par with international standards.

Our Chairman, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, reminded participants that the OHCSF digitalisation process began with an end-to-end mapping of all business processes and operations, which produced the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that are in use today.He urged all MDAs to adopt a similar approach in their respective MDAs to ensure that the full benefit of the ECMS projects are realised. 

OHCSF ISO 9001:2015 QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (QMS) AWARENESS PROGRAMME 

As part of our work to improve public service delivery in Nigeria, we are pleased to be partnering with the OHCSF and SERVICOM to oversee and sponsor the OHCSF’s quest for ISO 9001:15 certification.

In July, a 3-day organizational awareness programme was held to raise the civil servants’ awareness of the purpose and benefits of ISO 9001:2015 accreditation, which will result in enhanced service delivery to stakeholders and increased transparency and accountability within the OHCSF.

Details of the certification process were provided and the Head of Service enjoined civil servants to cooperate fully with the process, as it would lead to increased efficiency.

AIG SCHOLARSHIPS 2023/2024

                                              APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation invites applications for the 7th round of the AIG Scholarships, which offers an exciting opportunity for exceptional Nigerians currently working in the Nigerian public sector to attend the University of Oxford for one year and undertake a Master’s in Public Policy degree. 

Since 2017, twenty-nine scholarships worth over £50,000 each have been awarded to an outstanding group of young people who are working to drive change and make a positive difference in the country. 

AIG Scholars spend the year at the University of Oxford, gaining knowledge and skills from an outstanding academic faculty with expert practitioners, and interacting with other future public sector leaders from around the world. After completing their degrees, scholars return to Nigeria and use their learnings to bolster policymaking, support reforms and contribute to the nation’s development. 

Programme Details 

• Financial Support – Funding will be provided for tuition, living expenses, and a stipend for a summer project. 
• Coaching and Mentoring – Extensive coaching and mentoring will be offered to help scholars navigate their time at Oxford and make the most of the experience. 
• Career Development – AIG Scholars will receive full support to map out their career development paths and access opportunities that are aligned with their areas of interest and that leverage the knowledge gained at Oxford.
• Work Experience – AIG Scholars will embark on summer placements during which they will gain additional knowledge and experience in their areas of interest and build their global networks. 

Eligibility Criteria 

• To be eligible for this award you must: 
• Be a Nigerian currently working in the public sector (Ministries, Departments, Agencies & Parastatals) at either Federal or State levels. 
• Be between 25 and 45 years old. 
• Have a minimum of seven (7) years work experience. 
• Have a bachelor's degree with a minimum of second-class upper qualification. 

Additional Information 

• Due to high volumes of applications, only applicants shortlisted for the next stage of the selection process will be contacted, and any inquiries regarding individual application status will not be responded to. 
• Only applications submitted via the online application portal will be considered.
• Candidates who emerge as finalists in the selection process will be required to apply directly to the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, for admission. Full support will be provided throughout the application process. Finalists offered admission to the Master of Public Policy will then be considered for the AIG Scholarship. 

Applications close Friday, September 9, 2022. 

Please click here  for more information  

FEATURES

THE BRIDGE LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION CAREER DAY CONFERENCE

On July 16^th 2022, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede spoke at The Bridge Leadership Foundation’s Career Day Conference in Calabar. He spoke on the theme “Extraordinary Leadership in Extraordinary Times”. 

In his speech, he discussed the current challenges that Nigeria is facing and the type of leadership that is needed to move the country forward. He stated that while a good leader is required, that alone will not be sufficient to achieve lasting change for the country. Rather, it will take collective action by the country’s elite, to decide to move from a position of protecting the status quo, which may align with their own interests and instead choose to put Nigeria first by gambling on a growth-based future for the country, even if it means their current entrenched positions are put at risk.  

ALUMNI UPDATE

My name is Idowu Bakare, an Assistant Director in the Directorate of Interparliamentary Relations in the National Assembly; this is the section of the National Assembly that manages relations between the National Assembly and other national parliaments and Interparliamentary organizations. 

When I heard about the Public Leaders Programme run by the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, my expectation was that it was going to expose me to skills and competency levels that will elevate my ability to solve public administration challenges. 

The Programme exceeded my expectations and has propelled me to public managerial levels that I could only have dreamed of. Understanding and dealing with cognitive biases in the workplace is one area that has helped me a lot. Also, being taught about passive and active waste in public administration has enabled me to inculcate such lessons and ideals in my place of work. Typical of top-level education, the opportunity to learn from other course mates gave me a chance to learn from peers about other ways to address similar challenges.

The use of modern technological tools in addressing basic challenges drove me to initiate a capstone project “HOUSE DASHBOARD” that will lead to the digitization of the legislative process in the House of Representatives. It is a cloud-based platform that will drive the legislative process in the house.

Bills and other legislative proposals will be run on the dashboard, and it will also enable real-time citizen access to legislative resources. Although it was well received and approved, funding has slowed down its implementation but it is on course to be fully operational before the end of the year.

The AIG Public Leaders Programme has transformed my work; my hitherto narrow consultation base has widened following lessons from Chris Stone and Kate Orkin. I have also begun mentoring my subordinates with the skills I acquired and their productivity and mine are increasing as a result.

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

Chioma Njoku- Head, Consulting and Health Policy

Please share your educational and professional background:

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Economics and a Master's degree in International Development. I am a project management professional, with a specific interest in development projects. My career started off with implementing development projects in Northern Nigeria and some parts of Kenya, and I'm now working to influence public policy and system-level development in Nigeria's Civil Service.

What inspired you to pursue a career in the development sector?

A combination of factors did. While I was an undergraduate, I took two courses; Development Economics and International Trade. Certain components of those courses made me sad about Nigeria's rather slow development compared to other developed countries, when I knew we didn't lack intelligent minds to make our nation work. I decided to gain more understanding of the development landscape; what made other nations work better and what Nigeria was lacking, what we need to do, which sectors to prioritise and what kinds of international bargains we need to strike to position ourselves to benefit from other economies.

What do you do at the Foundation?

I head the Consulting and Health Policy Units at the Foundation.

What does your typical day look like?

Strategic planning with colleagues and stakeholders on the most efficient and effective way to support Nigeria's Civil Service; working with Civil Servants to implement their strategic plans; eliciting and addressing bottlenecks experienced by our consultants during project implementation and building relationships with new stakeholders while strengthening existing ones.

What makes the work that we do at the Foundation unique?

It's our unique focus on strengthening existing systems of government, recognising that the government has the machinery to succeed and positioning ourselves as a strategic partner that lubricates the parts to ensure continuous movement with a view to producing better service delivery. It is also the very hands-on approach that we take to working with the Civil Service every step of the way, trying to ensure that the good plans articulated are also well implemented.

What do you find most rewarding about your work?

The steady behavioural change among Civil Servants, the energy and optimism I hear in their conversations, their desire to see the Service improve and their pride, as well as mine, in being a part of the drivers of this change.

OPPORTUNITIES

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