BY OKEY NDIRIBE
ABUJA—Head of Service of the federation, Alhaji Isa Sali, has expressed regrets that apathy has crept into the nation’s civil service, adversely affecting the psychology of civil servants and resulting in poor service delivery.

In a statement by Mr Tope Ajakaiye, Deputy Director in charge of Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Head of Service, Sali stated that the trend must urgently be arrested if the federal civil service will successfully play its role in the implementation of the present administration’s transformation agenda.

Sali, who spoke when a team of officials from the Department for International Development, DFID, of the United Kingdom, led by its Country Representative, Mr. Richard Montgomery, visited him in Abuja, also told the team that he would continue with the reforms initiated by his predecessors, particularly in the area of capacity building.

He, however, promised to concentrate more on the attitudinal aspect in the retraining of civil servants.

Alhaji Sali further said that the Federal Civil Service would collaborate with interested development partners in its efforts to implement the reform initiatives aimed at achieving effective and efficient service delivery to all Nigerians.

He identified other areas in which the DFID could offer assistance to the Federal Civil Service to include records and performance management system.

Earlier, Montgomery had briefed the Head of Service on the past and ongoing efforts by his organisation in public sector development and expressed the need for more collaborative efforts in identifying other areas where assistance could be offered, to achieve the desired results.