It was indeed a landmark event as the Head of Civil service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Ekanem Oyo- Ita launched an e- learning platform, “The Public Service Learning Management System” (PSLMS). A Multi-Tenant Learning Management System that allow simultaneous delivery of online training to over a million users globally.
Speaking at the event, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita stated that the e-learning platform, first of its kind in the history of Public Service, will reposition the Public Service for effective service delivery.
According to her, the innovation was in line with the 2017-2020 Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Federal Government and also the 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan on capacity building and personnel development of Public Servant.
Oyo-Ita said that the system is simple, direct method of training and will further improve capacity building methods in the Public Service.
She also said that her office had outlined a set of objectives to transform the Civil Service over a tree year period with four core areas, which includes ; developing an Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible and Citizen- Centred Culture (EPIC) in the service and Improving efficiency through digital transformation.
Others are, transforming the Civil Service from being a cost center to revenue generator as well as improving the Welfare of Civil Servants.
However, she said “these cannot be achieved without the adequate capacity building of Public Servants. Therefore the development of The Public Service Learning Management System (PSLMS) by the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) is apt and timely”.
According to her, PSLMS comes with numerous benefits which include revenue generation to the Federal Government, reducing the cost of training, wider reach of capacity building to Public Servants and other interest groups.
She noted that Public Service Institute of Nigeria has demonstrated that, the dream of transforming the civil service from cost generation to revenue generation centre is realisable through the innovation.
The highpoint of the event was the official launch of E-Learning Passport, designed for recording courses completed by any officer. This will help to monitor the capacity building sessions completed by any officer at a glance.
She said “From 2020 we shall be looking at buying into the E-Learning passport system and make it a pre-requisite for career progression in the service.
She however commended the unique partnership that works, between a private sector (Sawtel Technologies Limited) and the government arm (Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) and Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).
Speaking earlier, the Administrator/ Chief Executive Officer Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) Dr Abdul-Ganiyu Obatoyinbo said that the e-learning platform is one of the most important and effective methods to bring capacity building to the door steps of the public servants, at minimal cost.
He noted that the 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP) encourages MDAs to collaborate with the Private Sector, hence PSIN entered into an agreement with Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) and Sawtel Technologies Limited to develop the platform.
He however attributed the success story, to the innovation drive and total support of Head of the Civil Service, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita.
Dr Obatoyinbo also disclosed that the platform is populated with “over 1,000 courses and has the capacity to take as many as required”.
He also said that the platform has the capacity of having ten million users at once and capable of segmenting courses as may be required by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies and also State Governments. He added that the course curriculum is under review, to guarantee Public Service excellence.
He reiterated that PSIN remains a world -class centre of excellence with the mandate of providing transformational training to build capacity of the Public Servants.
The Managing Director NIGCOMSAT, Mrs Abimbola Alale lauded all efforts put together by the team members from PSIN, NIGCOMSAT AND SAWTEL in realisation of the dream of adding additional value to the Public Service of Nigeria through providing an online platform for capacity building.
In her words “with this platform, we have ensured that an officer who does not have opportunity to embark on formal training, can now do so on-line from the comfort of their offices or homes, online from their computers, laptops, tablets, or even phones”.
She added that “the learning management system is also designed to structure education resources into curriculum based e-learning courses and programmes that allows users to interact with the resource persons, receive feedback and track individual student development”, these reports according to her “can also be evaluated by supervisors or relevant Heads of Departments.
However, she called on the public servants to take advantage of the platform in their career advancement endeavour.
