By Vera Anyagafu

Speaking on repositioning the Nigeria public sector for effective performance in the ‘New Normal’, Vice-chairman Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Mrs Ofovwe, said that the ability of an organisation and or public sector to anticipate, prepare for, respond, and adapt to implemental change and sudden disruption to survive and prosper is very important.

Afovwe said this in a keynote massage at the 2021 ASCON Online Conference with the theme, “Repositioning organisations for effective performance in the ‘new normal.’

According to her, the need for the public sector to embrace digital innovation in the wake of changes the Covid-19 pandemic had brought to the way organisations are run is very paramount, while explaining the role the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation entities had been playing to support the public sector in their digitalisation and capacity building efforts.

Explaining further, Ofovwe said that for organisations to successfully navigate the changing environment, they needed to be resilient and defined ‘organisational resilience” as the ability of an organisation to anticipate, prepare for, respond, and adapt to implemental change and sudden disruption to survive and prosper.

She also listed 16 behaviors that will assist organisations anticipate, prepare for, respond, and adapt to implemental change and sudden disruption to survive and prosper.

She also listed the International Consortium of Organizational Resilience that organisations need to adopt as being adaptive, flexible, being aware, collaborative and committed, in addition to being creative, diverse, effective, innovative, inclusive, prepared, reflective, resourceful, respected, responsive, and robust.

“A pandemic had three main phases and organisations needed to adopt different behaviours in each phase as follows:
• The Respond Phase: How an organisation prepares for the present situation and
manages continuity.
• The Recovery Phase: This is where an organisation learns and emerges stronger.
• The Thrive Phase: When the organisation prepares for and shapes the ‘new normal’
to suit its purpose”, Ofovwe stated.
That the public sector organisations seeking to thrive in the new normal, Ofivwe continued, needed to prioritise agility, digitalisation, and partnerships.

She however, outlined key projects that the Aig-Imoukhuede Institute entities had embarked on with the Office of the Head of Civil Service of
the Federation (OHCSF) to create organisational resilience in the civil service and build the
capacity of civil servants to be more effective.

Some of the projects ishe stated, ncluded contributing private sector expertise to the development of policies for virtual meetings at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the work of the OHCSF to increase efficiency and productivity; supporting ISO certification for Servicom staff members to improve service delivery; capacity building for public servants through the AIG Public Leaders Programme, run in partnership with the University of Oxford, with scholarships worth £11,500 offered to 50 high-potential public servants; and finally a major digitalisation project that would digitalise the work of the OHCSF and allow the civil service to be more flexible, agile and efficient, poised to thrive in the newn,