SERVICOM has failed woefully, says ex-head of service

Ama Pepple, former head of service of the federation, says that SERVICOM (Service Compact with All Nigerians), which was initiated by former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004, has failed woefully.

Pepple made this statement while speaking at the opening of a two-day national policy dialogue on service delivery with the theme “Efficient and Effective Service Delivery in Governance: Imperative for Driving the Change Agenda”, held at the State House Conference Center Abuja.

She said despite the determination of the Buhari-led administration to do things better, indiscipline, corruption and inefficiency looms large throughtout the public service.

According to Pepple, the public service continues to be seen in negative light in its service delivery agenda despite efforts by the Obasanjo administration to raise the standard of service delivery by the public service to the citizenry.

The former head of service said SERVICOM, which is the only government policy that would have redeemed the damaged reputation of the public service, has failed and there seems to be no salvation for the service.

“SERVICOM‎ is a contract between the government of Nigeria led by the public service and it’s people. It was initiated by former president of Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004. He believed that quality of service being delivered to the people was below expectations.

“SERVICOM‎ was meant to enhance service delivery, it was intended to deliver prompt, efficient and effective service to the Nigerian people and others who visit government offices and agencies.

“The SERVICOM‎ charter was distributed to all government offices and officers of grade level 16 reporting directly to the permanent secretaries were in charge of the unit.

“In the midst of varied and daunting challenges in country and rising expectations from citizenry, the first question we should ask ourselves is this, in spite of all of the above has SERVICOM‎ achieved it’s purpose? Definitely not. The public service continues to get knocks, criticism and to be seen in negative light in its service delivery agenda.

“My conviction is that one government policy that would have redeemed the damage reputation of the public service is SERVICOM‎. But there seems to be no salvation for the service. Files continues to get missing, sometimes piled in one office or the other untreated, indiscipline, corruption and inefficiency looms large throughout the public service.

“This government places a lot of emphasis on change, the public service is therefore expected to be an agent of change and driver of change and to spearhead the slogan ‘Change Begins With Me’.

“The public service has not done anything of this. We have neither plunge into SERVICOM and the change agenda, we have not moved with it and we have not join in the dance‎.

“As a result SERVICOM‎ and the public service has failed to spearhead the change mantra of the current administration but I hope with what the head of service told us today, that a change is coming even in the public service with all that has been put in place to revive SERVICOM‎.

Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation, said the objective of the forum is to seek ways to continually enhance citizen-focused service delivery by providing a platform for the exchange of ideas to advance improved service delivery as a direct outcome of the Change Agenda.

He said it is also to sensitize the citizens on their rights to demand high quality of services provided, saying it marks a significant step in the administration’s effort to enhance and sustain the culture of effective service delivery in all government establishments, to serve the people better.