By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
As John C. Maxwell rightly puts it: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”. True leadership lies in guiding others to success. It lies in ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are designated to do, and doing it well. One year after her appointment on August 14, 2024, by H.E. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), Nigeria’s Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack (OON, Mni), has breathed new life into the engine room of Nigeria’s governance. Across government towers where bureaucracy once dulled ambition, she has ignited a renaissance of purpose, innovation, and passion, making her impact felt across the entire Federal Civil Service.
“Over the past twelve months, guided by the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025 (FCSSIP 25), we have advanced reforms aimed at repositioning the Service to be more Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible and Citizen-Centred (EPIC),” she remarked on Thursday in her One Year Thanksgiving Message.
From her first day in office, Walson-Jack made it clear that she sees the Service not as a faceless machine, but as a living institution that will be powered by people. “These achievements have been made possible through the collective commitment of our dedicated public servants, the lifeblood of governance whose daily labour sustains the machinery of our nation,” she noted in that regard, in her Thanksgiving Message.
The HCSF has fostered a collaborative environment where staff are recognized by name, hierarchies yield to teamwork, and productivity thrives. Her leadership has been defined by continuity and creativity, consolidating on the legacies of her predecessors while charting bold new frontiers driven by digital innovation.
As a culture of stirring call to duty, she revived the long-neglected Civil Service Anthem, transforming it from a forgotten relic into a now rhythmic rallying cry that embodies the culture of EPIC: Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible, and Citizen-centred public service. The smooth rhythm now serves as an energizer to civil servants, further uniting them under a shared identity and purpose.
Driven to dismantle bottlenecks, she has championed full digitization of public administration by December 31, 2025. In her spirited remarks on Friday, August 15, during the OHCSF’s inaugural Stakeholders and Citizens Engagement Forum in Abuja, she pledged that “public trust is priceless” and must be sustained through openness and collaboration. There and then, she reiterated her ambitious pledge to achieve full digitalization of core government processes by December 31, 2025.
At the Global Government Summit 2025 in Singapore, she unveiled Nigeria’s Service-Wise GPT, an artificial intelligence tool that drafts policies, streamlines research, reduces man-hours, and enhances decision-making. Within her first 100 days, she also launched GOVMail, a secure centralized communication platform which currently has at least 34,000 civil servants’ official government emails. Walson-Jack has sustained the Nigeria Federal Civil Service Online Academy for continuous capacity building.
Her reform momentum found a powerful anchor in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025 (FCSSIP-25), reinforced by the creation of “War Rooms” to accelerate progress in six priority pillars: from competency and HR reforms to innovation and meritocracy. She has also courted strategic international cooperation, engaging the British High Commissioner and UK Cabinet Secretary to strengthen civil service capacity and talent management.
Inclusivity has been another hallmark. Walson-Jack has advanced disability inclusion by enforcing the statutory 5% recruitment quota for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) across the civil service. This drive includes remodelling public buildings for accessibility, mandating sign language interpreters across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and rewarding compliance through public recognition. She is also spearheading a Civil Service Policy on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in alignment with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu.
At the inaugural Stakeholders and Citizens Engagement Forum ensuing her first 365 days in office, the dynamic Head of Service declared that citizen and stakeholder engagement will be at the heart of Nigeria’s ongoing civil service reforms. “Your voice is not just welcomed, it is essential to our progress and to restoring public trust. This forum is designed to foster honest dialogue, shared problem solving and collective ownership of the reforms that will reshape our civil service for the better,” Walson-Jack told the stakeholders consisting of senior government officials, state heads of service, civil society leaders, development partners, and members of the media. The Head of Service told stakeholders that Nigerians are beginning to believe in the civil service again, but they must work collectively to sustain the trust.
On the continental stage, she made history in June 2025 by initiating the first Pan-African celebration of African Public Service Day alongside the Nigerian Civil Service Week. Under the theme “Rejuvenate, Innovate & Accelerate”, the event drew over 5,000 delegates and global guest speakers, creating a landmark platform for collaboration, innovation, and the celebration of public service excellence, with Nigeria taking the lead.
Commendably, Walson-Jack has also invested in intellectual legacy. Just very recently, she inaugurated the Editorial Committee for a landmark historical publication on the Nigerian Civil Service, a “national asset” designed to preserve institutional memory, capture its reforms, and inspire future generations, especially those willing to take up public service.
But perhaps the most stirring expression of her leadership came during the 2025 Federal Civil Service Rewards and Recognition Awards. Walson-Jack is a champion of improved staff welfare, as a motivation effect. Eighteen (18) exemplary public servants received prestigious honours, including the Presidential Distinguished Civil Service Career Award and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation EPIC Award. Other categories celebrated Digital Transformation, Citizen-Centric Service Delivery, and Public Sector Innovation. A brand new car, house, laptops, cash prizes, advanced study scholarships and other goodies were splashed on outstanding civil servants. By elevating achievers before their peers and the nation, Walson-Jack restored the dignity of merit-based recognition, making excellence an expectation. To ease life after service, she has worked to improve pension and healthcare processing for retirees.
Every Thursday is now “Performance Management System Day,” dedicated to evaluating reforms and ensuring accountability across MDAs. These are complemented by Walson-Jack’s unannounced inspection visits, symbolic acts that remind the Service that reform is a living commitment that must be taken seriously.
One year on, the Federal Civil Service under her watch is moving with renewed vigour, sharper focus, and deeper pride. Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack’s tenure has proven that when vision meets discipline, even the most entrenched institutions can be reborn. “As we enter a new chapter, I urge everyone to remain steadfast. Let us work not for titles, but for enduring legacies; not for self, but for service. Together, we shall build a Civil Service that future generations will inherit with pride, one that exemplifies the EPIC values in both spirit and deed,” she stated in commemoration of her one-year leadership.
The entire Federal Civil Service workforce is rallying behind her. Her positive impact is being felt. Praising the digital landmark of Walson-Jack, Olatunji Ajayi, Director of Special Projects Unit, Ministry of Housing & Urban Development, said: “Previously, I used to have hard copies of all circulars that were issued from 1979 till date. I had to carry them about to make references. But now that we have a compendium online, it is very easy for me to check. This is reengineering the workflow in the civil service.”
“I can tell you that in the near future, the Nigerian Civil Service will have a pool of experts and professionals all over the country. This is what we are achieving with the reforms currently going on,” Ogba Ukpabi, Deputy Director in the Ministry of Environment, testified, adding his voice in an interview conducted recently across MDAs.
For Aolat Olajumoke Dosumu, the deployment of Enterprise Management Solutions has revolutionized document handling in the OHCSF. “We have gone from paper files and scattered records to a secure and central digital platform, where information is easy to find, track, and share. We have also automated our workflows,” the Director, ICT in the OHCSF, said of Walson-Jack’s impact.
When core government processes go fully digital by the December deadline, it will enable faster service delivery, fewer lost files, and easier online access to government services. Given the success of the 2025 edition, Walson-Jack says preparations are already underway for the 2026 International Civil Service Conference, envisioned as “truly transformational” with anticipated participation from public servants, academia, civil society, and global experts.
