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 a fundamental transformation of Nigeria’s public service, with a focus on innovation, accountability, citizen participation, inclusion and strategic people management.
Gobir made the call on Thursday, August 13, 2026, while delivering the keynote address at the Ogun State 2026 Public Service Day Celebration Lecture at the Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta. Speaking on the theme, “Transforming the Public Service: Advancing Innovation, Accountability, Participation and Inclusion,” he urged public-sector leaders to move beyond processes and paperwork and focus on improving citizens’ lives through better and more accessible services.
Speaking to public and civil service leaders, scholars, organised labour, private-sector representatives and other stakeholders, the CIPM President said citizens mainly experience government through the quality of services they receive.
He stressed that the purpose of public service should not be limited to processing documents or completing administrative activities, but should be measured by the value it delivers to citizens.
“Government is an idea. Public service is its experience,” Gobir said, urging public institutions to focus on the actual impact of their work rather than simply measuring activities and processes.
On innovation, Gobir said public-sector transformation must go beyond converting existing processes to digital platforms. He warned that technology would not solve inefficient systems if the processes themselves had not been reviewed.
According to him, institutions must avoid what he described as “digitising dysfunction” and instead redesign processes around citizens’ needs rather than institutional convenience.
He challenged public-sector leaders to regularly ask whether existing procedures still create public value and to remove processes that create unnecessary difficulties for citizens.
Addressing accountability, the CIPM President 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 more meaningful citizen participation in government decisions, stressing that participation should not simply involve inviting citizens to events after decisions have already been taken.
Gobir said citizens should instead have opportunities to influence decisions that directly affect their lives.
On inclusion, he urged public institutions to design services that take into account citizens’ different socioeconomic, geographic, technological and demographic circumstances.
He warned that a service should not be regarded as inclusive simply because it is technically available, if significant sections of the population cannot practically access it.
The CIPM President also highlighted the role of human resource management in transforming the public service, saying no institution could transform beyond the capacity of its people.
He called for stronger approaches to talent management, leadership development, performance management and capability building across the public service.
“The greatest infrastructure of a nation is not concrete. It is capability. Only capable people move institutions,” he said.
Gobir further urged public-sector organisations to create workplaces where competence, integrity, innovation and excellence are recognised and rewarded.
He also challenged leaders to develop the people and capabilities required to meet emerging needs in the public sector.
Speaking specifically about Ogun State, Gobir acknowledged the state’s development ambitions and encouraged the government to pursue transformation beyond infrastructure and technology.
He said the state should also focus on building institutions that are responsive, effective and centred on citizens.
Summarising the four key imperatives of the lecture, Gobir said innovation must change the method, accountability must change the culture, participation must change the relationship between government and citizens, while inclusion must change the architecture of public service.
He added that leadership would remain central to achieving these goals, stressing that institutions do not transform themselves because people transform institutions.
According to him, leaders determine whether people within institutions are empowered, constrained, inspired or ignored.
Gobir concluded by calling for a public service where innovation becomes an institutional habit, accountability becomes a professional ethic, participation becomes meaningful and inclusion becomes a core design principle.
He said the success of public-sector reform should ultimately be judged by the number of lives improved rather than the number of policies or projects launched.
“The ultimate measure of institutional reform will not be the number of policies launched. It will be the number of lives improved,” he said.
The engagement further reflects CIPM’s commitment to promoting professional human resource management and supporting stronger, more capable and people-centred institutions across Nigeria.
