The President and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Mallam Ahmed Ladan Gobir, FCIPM, fnli, has called for an urgent transformation of Nigeria’s public service, anchored on innovation, accountability, citizen participation, inclusion and strategic people management.
Gobir made the call while delivering the keynote address at the Ogun State 2026 Public Service Day Celebration Lecture held at the Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta.
The lecture, themed ‘Transforming the Public Service: Advancing Innovation, Accountability, Participation and Inclusion,’ brought together public and civil service leaders, academics, organised labour, private-sector representatives and other stakeholders.
Gobir said the ultimate purpose of public service was to improve citizens’ lives rather than merely process paperwork, noting that citizens experience government primarily through the quality of public services they receive.
He stressed that ‘Government is an idea. Public service is its experience,’ urging public institutions to move beyond measuring activities and processes to assessing the actual value and impact delivered to citizens.
On innovation, the CIPM President cautioned against simply digitising inefficient systems, describing the practice as ‘digitising dysfunction.’ He said technology could not compensate for poorly designed processes and urged institutions to redesign procedures around citizens’ needs.
Addressing accountability, Gobir described it as ‘the mathematics of trust,’ saying public institutions must earn citizens’ confidence through competence, fairness, transparency, consistency and responsiveness.
He also called for meaningful citizen participation in governance, saying citizens should have genuine opportunities to influence decisions affecting their lives rather than merely being invited to events after decisions have been taken.
On inclusion, he said public services must accommodate citizens across different socioeconomic, geographic, technological and demographic circumstances. He warned that services could not be considered inclusive if they remained practically inaccessible to significant sections of the population.
Gobir further highlighted the importance of human resource management, noting that no institution could transform beyond the capacity of its people. He called for stronger talent management, leadership development, performance management and capability building.
‘The greatest infrastructure of a nation is not concrete. It is a capability. Only capable people move institutions,’ he said.
Speaking in Ogun State, Gobir urged the state to pursue transformation beyond infrastructure and technology by building responsive, effective and citizen-centred institutions.
He said innovation must change the method, accountability of the culture, participation in the relationship between government and citizens, and inclusion of the architecture of public service.