FG kicks off civil service audit, skills gap assessment

The Federal Government on Thursday commenced a three-day strategic retreat aimed at harmonising the methodology for the Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis (PASGA) in the Federal Civil Service.

Declaring the retreat open in Abuja, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, described the exercise as a critical step in ongoing civil service reforms designed to enhance efficiency, professionalism, and service delivery.

She explained that the initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s directive for a comprehensive audit of the federal workforce, noting that the project would create a credible and verifiable personnel database.

“This project will give us what we have long needed—a database that captures not just numbers, but also skills, competencies, and workforce distribution across ministries, departments, and agencies,” Walson-Jack said.

She added that the data would guide evidence-based planning, targeted training, strategic deployment, and transparent succession planning, while ensuring capacity-building efforts are better focused.

Mr. Folusho Philips, Chairman of Philips Consulting, the lead firm for the project, described the civil service as a “huge organisation” requiring proper verification of personnel. He said PASGA would help identify skills, competencies, and capacity gaps to ensure workers remain “fit for purpose” in a rapidly evolving environment.

“If successful, this initiative could also be replicated at the state level to improve public service delivery nationwide,” Philips noted.

Similarly, Dr. Danjuma Kalba, Permanent Secretary, Common Services Office in the HCSF, stressed the importance of harmonising the approaches of the 15 cluster consultants engaged in the project. According to him, the retreat is crucial to ensure a standardised and credible outcome.

The retreat, themed “Building a Future-Ready Workforce: Reshaping Skills Today for Tomorrow’s Nigeria,” is being attended by members of the steering committee, implementation team, Philips Consulting, and the cluster consultants.