Why reward for high-performing civil servants is imperative — Olaopa

The Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has stated the necessity of rewarding high-performing civil servants.

Olaopa spoke on Saturday while delivering the goodwill message at the 2026 Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Service-Wide Reward and Recognition Ceremony held in Abuja.

According to Olaopa, the significance of performance and consequence management to the transformation of the civil service administrative system as encapsulated in FCSSIP25 underlies the relevance of reward and sanction as instruments for boosting performance and productivity.

He noted that rewards like praises, letters of commendation, recognition, awards and promotions play a key role in motivating high engagement, good outcomes and general workplace performance spirit.

But the civil service commission boss noted that sanctions that could range from warnings to pay cuts and demotions were necessary for mitigating bad behaviour, unprofessional practices and poor work attitudes.

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Further explaining the importance of the occasion, Olaopa said: “There is another fundamental reason why this ceremony is worthwhile. Those who are to be honoured today represent the very essence of dedication and commitment to the public service. And this is in spite of the fact that they carry out their duties, tasks and responsibilities under a heavily demotivating, demanding, crippling and very difficult work environment.

“The limiting factors are unfortunately still there despite the many years of trying to fashion out significant and ongoing reforms to address pay, compensation, as well as the comprehensive reform vision embedded in the cumulative achievements of previous Heads of the Civil Service of the Federation through the National Strategy for Public Service Reforms (NSPSR), whose civil service administrative reform critical components have been brilliantly elaborated in the FCSSIP25.”

Olaopa also lauded the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, for achieving the 2026 edition of the reward event and for brilliantly and valiantly harvesting the incentives and leadership open-mindedness of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to build immensely on the administrative contributions of heads of service of the federation since 1999.

On her part, Walson-Jack said that the occasion affirmed that excellence should be recognised and appreciated. She thanked President Bola Tinubu for his support for her transformational initiatives in the civil service. She also thanked the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, for his support.

Walson-Jack said that the event was shifted from an earlier date in order to better celebrate it. She said that the officers being celebrated had distinguished themselves through innovation, diligence and service.

According to her, the awardees are now the ambassadors of excellence in the civil service and urged them to mentor those under them.

The HoS urged those who were nominated but could not get awards not to be discouraged but to continue to serve excellently as they would be recognised one day.