REFORMS: Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF); Reduction in operational costs.

Problem: The OHCSF was not given the civil service leadership that it deserves because the office itself was disorganised, inefficient and unwieldy.

Reform Actions:
- Development of the Strategic Plan for 2013-2017
- Organisational redesign of the OHCSF

Main Achievements: Restructuring and streamlining of the OHCSF for greater effectiveness is a major achievement. There has been a reduction in operational costs and devolution of functions to MDAs. There are prospects of improvement with increased ICT penetration in employment records management. There have been reforms of the Employee Mobility Function, the development of a Record Management Policy, Improvements in IPPIS implementation and implementation of the competency evaluation tool.

Key Challenges: 
(a) under-funding of the Office, e.g. difficulty paying electricity bills that results in frequent, long, and embarrassing power disconnections; 
(b) coordination among component parts is still an issue in spite of reduction of offices to four; and 
(c) the capacity of the OHCSF needs to be improved for them to implement the reform agenda through relevant training. 

Reference:  Public Service Reforms in Nigeria (1999-2014) - A Comprehensive Review

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