President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday declared open the International Civil Service Conference 2026 in Abuja, saying reforms introduced by his administration are beginning to produce measurable results across Nigeria’s public service.
Speaking through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, Tinubu said the conference theme, “Reforms, Resilience and Results,” reflects the government’s shift from policy discussions to practical implementation and visible outcomes.
The President described the Federal Civil Service as the “engine room of national transformation,” stressing that its effectiveness remains central to the success of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
He said the service had shown resilience over the past eleven months in responding to economic pressures, growing service demands, and citizens’ expectations.
According to Tinubu, 38 ministries and extra-ministerial departments are now operating on a secure, paperless and end-to-end electronic workflow system as part of efforts to modernise governance and improve efficiency.
“Today, with 38 Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments operating on a secure, paperless and end-to-end electronic workflow system, we are sending a clear message: Nigeria is building a public service that enables progress,” he said.
The President added that the Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis approved during the 2025 conference was nearing completion and would help government deploy workers according to competence and digital capacity.
Tinubu directed ministries and government agencies to sustain digital reforms and phase out inefficient manual processes.
“The era of manual inefficiency must give way to a culture of speed, transparency, data-driven decision-making and citizen-centred service,” he stated.
He also highlighted Project BRIDGE, short for Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth, saying the initiative is designed to attract investment into Nigeria’s digital infrastructure ecosystem and strengthen service delivery.
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Tinubu commended the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, for driving reforms under the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025.
He praised the introduction of Service-Wise GPT, an artificial intelligence platform developed to assist civil servants in accessing institutional knowledge and service rules.
“This Conference must serve as a results laboratory,” the President said. “We must institutionalise resilience so that the progress of today becomes the standard of tomorrow.”
In her remarks, Walson-Jack said the conference demonstrated Nigeria’s progress from reform promises to measurable achievements.
“Today, we return, not to repeat ourselves, but to demonstrate. We have brought progress. We have brought proof. And we have brought renewed determination to go further,” she said.
She disclosed that all 38 federal ministries and extra-ministerial departments completed digitalisation of their work processes before the December 31, 2025 deadline.
According to her, the Service-Wise GPT platform has already recorded over 50,000 user interactions.
“These are not vanity metrics. They are evidence that technology, when it solves real problems, gets adopted,” she said.
Walson-Jack added that Nigeria’s use of artificial intelligence in governance would remain focused on supporting, not replacing, human judgment.
The conference attracted over 5,000 physical participants and delegates from 16 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Ghana, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.