By Folasade Akpan
The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC),
Maj.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, has urged staff of the corps to embrace innovations that are in tune
with global best practices.
He made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja, while declaring open a training for “Service Innovation Pipeline Officers”.
The director-general was represented by the Director, Human Resources Management, Hajiya Habiba Bappah.
Ibrahim said that service innovation had fully taken off in the NYSC and that management was desirous of achieving further breakthroughs by its singular efforts as one of the drivers of service innovation initiative of the Federal Government.
According to him, innovation and creativity require painstaking efforts for better understanding of the procedures in every human endeavour.
He added that “this is with a view to turning new ideas into concrete and measurable realities.
“It is therefore apt to state that the success of every organisation depends among other things on the efficacy of its modus operandi, innovation and strategies for the sustenance of its relevance.”
Ibrahim said that judging from his administration’s scorecard, the corps had made significant progress in initiating and implementing numerous innovative programmes that were yielding positive results.
He said that the scheme had to ensure quality service and achieve higher customer satisfaction.
He added that the scheme also had to take into cognisance government policy of cutting down cost of governance without jeopardising the operational standards.
Ibrahim said that the training was important as it was aimed at providing skilled manpower in areas of creative thinking and innovation technology, capable of adding value to the operations of the scheme.
“There is no gainsaying that this training will revolutionise our ways of thinking and provoke creative mindsets capable of making the scheme relevant and dynamic.”
He encouraged the participants to use the training to acquire deeper comprehension of the skills, ideas and knowledge gained from it for improved performance.
The corps Head of Reforms Unit, Mr Abdullahi Baba, said that service innovation was a prerogative of the Federal Government.
He added that it was being manifested through the instrumentality of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP 2017-2020).
“The initiative is in line with government’s commitment to encourage and fast track innovation development in public service.
“It is aimed at institutionalisation of innovation culture in public service with a view to increasing revenue and cutting cost of governance.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-day training which has “Service Innovation and Critical Thinking” as its theme is being carried out for pipeline officers in the 36 state secretariats and the FCT. (NAN)
