President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has advised Nigeria’s civil servants to shed their traditional passivity and take the centre stage in driving the country’s transformation.

The President spoke while declaring open the inaugural International Civil Service Conference yesterday in Abuja.

He said the era of bureaucratic inertia was over, insisting that a digital, innovative, and performance-driven civil service is now central to achieving his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

“This conference must not be a talk shop. The civil service is not a supporting actor; it is the platform through which our national transformation will be delivered. We must rejuvenate, innovate, and accelerate. The time to act is now,” the President said.

The conference, with the theme: Rejuvenate, Innovate and Accelerate, attracted public sector leaders from across the globe, including delegates from the United States (U.S.A), United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Ghana, Morocco, Kenya, and Azerbaijan, positioning Nigeria as a rallying point for civil service reform in Africa.

President Tinubu announced far-reaching reforms, including a comprehensive personnel audit and skills gap analysis across the Federal Civil Service, to eliminate inefficiencies and reposition the Service for high-impact governance.

He also directed all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to rigorously collect, protect, and publish data in line with the Nigerian Data Protection Act.

The President described data as “the new oil” for evidence-based decision-making.

He urged the publication of verified national datasets on international platforms to enhance Nigeria’s global standing.

“We must let our data speak for us, within Nigeria and to the world. Global benchmarking must reflect our progress in real time,” President Tinubu said.

The President praised the leadership of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, whose stewardship he said has propelled key reforms under the 2021–2025 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, including the rollout of Service-Wise GPT, a homegrown AI tool to boost productivity and responsiveness in public service.