Home ARTS & CULTURE Nigeria, Gambia Deepen Public Service Reform Ties Through Cultural And Institutional Exchange

Nigeria, Gambia Deepen Public Service Reform Ties Through Cultural And Institutional Exchange

by InlandTown Editor
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The Nigerian Public Service is strengthening its collaboration with The Gambia in a renewed effort to promote public sector reforms rooted in African cultural values.

The initiative was marked by a recent study exchange visit by a Gambian delegation to Nigeria, warmly received by Dr Ibrahim Arabi, Director General of Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).

During the meeting, Dr Arabi highlighted the importance of the visit, noting it aimed to share best practices, tackle mutual challenges, and deepen cooperation between both countries while leveraging their shared African identity.

“Nigeria and Gambia have long-standing diplomatic ties. Our relationship has always focused on unity and socio-political growth rooted in Afrocentric values,” he said.

He noted that Nigeria’s public service, serving about 20 per cent of its estimated 200 million population, faces increasing expectations. This reality, he said, makes continuous reform critical. Successive Nigerian governments have placed public service reform at the forefront, demanding that agencies deliver effectively to meet public needs.

To coordinate reform efforts across ministries and departments, he explained, the Bureau was created as the lead agency to oversee, monitor, and evaluate reform implementation. A key tool in this mission is the National Strategy for Public Service Reforms, developed in 2007 to guide the delivery of public services with transparency, integrity, and accountability.

Dr Arabi cited milestones such as the establishment of the One-Agency Data Centre and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which assigns unique identities to Nigerians, enabling a fully digital public finance management system. He also noted the Bureau’s annual perception impact surveys, which help assess the public’s response to government policies.

He said the Bureau plays a central role in coordinating reforms in line with the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Tinubu, which prioritises economic reforms, infrastructure, job creation, human capital development, security, and inclusive governance. He also referenced the administration’s new Financial Inclusion Policy aimed at providing affordable financial services to underserved groups, including small businesses and low-income earners.

Dr Arabi described the visit as a vital step in building more collaborative platforms for institutional growth, regional diplomacy, and sustainable development across West Africa.

Speaking on behalf of the Gambian delegation, Mr Pateh Jah, Permanent Secretary at The Gambia’s Ministry of Public Service, said Nigeria’s size and reform experience made it an ideal learning model.

“As a country, we believed it was better to learn from Nigeria than go to the West. We wanted to understand how civil service reforms are initiated and implemented in an African context,” Mr Jah said.

He identified key areas of interest, including Nigeria’s Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), impact assessments, and the national identity management system. He emphasised that Gambia is currently working on its version called the Human Resource Management Information System.

He stressed the importance of public perception surveys and praised the concept of a unique national identity number, which links personal records across government systems and improves accountability in the civil service.

While acknowledging the difficulties of reform, Mr Jah said resistance should not be an excuse to delay necessary changes. “The goal is to improve service delivery and government productivity, and we must pursue reforms regardless of challenges,” he stated.

Professor Victor Ayeli, Director of Governance and Management Services International, which coordinated the programme, commended Nigeria’s federal structure for offering diverse lessons in governance.

He said each programme is tailored to meet the specific needs of participating countries, with clear outcomes designed for implementation upon return. While there is no rigid tracking mechanism, he confirmed there are follow-up processes in place to ensure participants make good use of the experience.

Trade, energy, security, and enforcement remain major areas of cooperation between both countries under the ECOWAS framework.

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