Olaopa Advocates for Support of Local Policy Institutes

On Wednesday, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), called for increased support for development and policy institutes in Nigeria during a meeting with Dr.

Elijah O. Ogbuokiri, President of the Chartered Institute of Development Studies and Administration of Nigeria (CIDSA), in Abuja.

Olaopa expressed concern over Nigeria's dependency on foreign policy bodies, noting that most quoted statistics on development issues originate from institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He highlighted the relevance of CIDSA as a multi-disciplinary body and shared insights from his 27 years in the federal civil service, where he identified gaps in support for the federal bureaucracy.

To address these issues, he established the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) and later worked at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). Olaopa urged civil servants to engage with policy institutes for better learning and development.