BY  OKEY NDIRIBE, ABUJA
The  Federal Government has concluded preparations to initiate an exchange programme  for  senior officers  within the public and private sectors.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Alhaji Ahmed Al-Ghazali  while speaking at a conference organised by the Head of Service of the Federation (HOS)  Prof. Oladapo Afolabi  to sensitize senior officers within the public sector  and leaders of the Organised Private  Sector (OPS) about the programme.

Prof. Afolabi  further explained that the sensitization exercise was introduced to enable participants on both sides to make up their minds on  whether  to implement the programme or not  and the  modalities to be adopted.

He further stated that although the idea to adopt the programme was first introduced in 2002, the Federal Government could not introduce it then  because there wasn’t  enough awareness among public servants to enable the programme succeed.

He further stated that there was need to address several issues concerning  participants who would take part in the programme  which  was designed to last for one year adding that among the issues that needed  to be looked into  were  those of  discipline and  emoluments of participating staff.

In his own remarks earlier, while declaring the meeting open  Prof. Oladapo Afolabi  stated that the public and private sectors should work together for the growth of the Nigerian economy.

He further explained that this was necessary for the nation to advance economically adding that while the  role of the public service was that of formulating policies, the private sector should be the engine of economic  growth.

He further stated that one of the benefits that the public sector expects  to quickly  reap  from the programme is e-governance adding that this would have a positive impact on the nation’s economy.

In response to a question, he explained that  the issue of discipline and trust required of participants in the scheme would be contained in a memorandum of understanding which has to be adopted by  the leadership of both  the public and private sectors.

In his own remarks at the occasion the Director General of Nigeria Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA) Mr Olusegun Oshinowo remarked that that he was excited by the desire of the Head of Service to revive the programme but expressed concern about its sustainability since Prof. Afolabi had only a limited period to spend in public service.

He further stated that the scheme shouldn’t be restricted to the civil service alone adding that there should be an appraisal and evaluation mechanism to assess what had been achieved  from time to time.

Giving an insight into the proposed  technical details of the scheme while speaking  at the occasion, Mrs Temitope Adeniji-Adeleye who is attached to the office of the Head of service said that the  purpose of  the programme was to improve the relationship between the public and private sectors.  She explained  that for now the programme was designed for only senior civil servants from the cadre of directors upwards  and  their counterparts in the private sector.

She further advocated that in order for the scheme to take-off without much hitches, participants taking place in he exchange programme should retain whatever their salaries were for the period the programme would last.

She also proposed the need for a secretariat to handle the scheme on the part of both the public and private sectors adding that participants should be entitled to whatever were their entitlements including promotions  in their  original offices during their participation in the programme.