From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Thirteen federal civil servants were Thursday awarded with a total sum of N7.750 million for emerging winners in the 3rd Annual Federal Civil Service Innovation Challenge.
The overall winner went home with N3,000,000; in the security category while the first and second runner-ups got N1,750,000 for the Cost saving technology and N1 million for P-P-P.P category respectively.
Ten others prize winners, received N200,000 each.
The innovation challenge was centered around three thematic areas – First is securing work environment for civil servants; Second is identify new methods of promoting Public Private Partnerships (PPP); and Thirdly is cost saving measures using modern technology.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, in her remark at the ceremony said that all the ideas that were pitched for the competition are highly ingenious, providing solutions that were centered around advanced digital technologies.
She said that her office ensured that the process met the highest possible standard of transparency resulting in the emergence of excellent ideas that are both technically feasible, economically viable, and ready for implementation and scale up.
“Recent global events such as the COVID – 19 pandemic, the regional war in Ukraine with its disruptive effect on supply chains, and the devastations caused by climate change has made it more urgent for government, and particularly the Civil Service, to think out-of-the-box and embrace the culture of innovation along with the adoption of advanced technologies”.
She stated further that the Award ceremony was part of the commitment of the Head of Service to drive an eco-System where officers across the Service are able to exchange knowledge and also access the right tools and support needed to translate ideas into sustainable solutions in line with global best practices.
The HoS reiterated that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation has set up structures to effectively support and sustain innovation in the system by incorporating ‘Innovation’ as a pillar in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP) 2021-2025, adding that this has led to the training of over one hundred staff across 25 MDA’s.
In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary, Special Duties Office, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Faruk Yusuf, said that many developing countries, including Nigeria, have now realized the need for Innovation to provide customer-focused, cost effective, and updated methods to improve public service performance.
“Innovation in the Public Sector has become increasingly popular around the world as a strategy for improving governance and scaling up service quality,” he said.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, commended the initiative of the Head of Service for keeping track with the trend of global changes and duplicating same in the Civil Service.
He assured that the Senate Committee will ensure that adequate enabling legislative laws to enhance efficient and effective Public Service the country will be proud of.
The Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Zuberu Dada, noted that the civil service needs a lot of reforms and the only way to do was to allow the workers think outside the box and express themselves through innovation.
He said the reforms are intended to bringing in new methods of advancing Government business as well as reduce cost of governance.
Mohammed Bello Abubakar of Galaxy Backbone, described the initiative as excellent, saying it’s in line with global best practices.
He said it was innovative ideas in technology that prevented hackers from succeeding in the numerous attacks which is in million on INEC saver during the recently concluded elections, saying “We blocked all the cyber attacks on INEC saver.”