By Toyin Falola

It is an open secret that I was close to the late Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi III. He was fond of reading my essays and books. He put them to use to validate some of his decisions. He sent some of his writings to me for comments. I discussed a project on the creation of an Oyo Museum with him. I was the keynote speaker when he turned 80, and I suggested Alaafinology as an academic discipline. There were moments when he had critical challenges about the governor to support for election or reelection. He was profoundly troubled about whether to support Jonathan Goodluck or Muhammadu Buhari, and he sought counsel from various people, including my humble self. He wanted to make me a chief, and I said we should wait till he was 90 years old. He attended four of my functions and presided over my 65th birthday ceremony.

This piece is not offered to continue any established relationship with Oyo and its palace but to play the role of an elder, providing advice to the new Alaafin, who has now used the throne of his ancestors to become my superior. I must prostrate to him, even though I am older. His appointment is now formalized by receiving the staff of office and a certificate from the Oyo State Governor on January 13, 2024. The announcement from the palace that he will embark on a 21-day preparation is heartwarming. He must do the rites as prescribed by tradition. The sacred nature of the institution must be preserved.

First, he must understand the context of history. The sacred nature of the institution must be respected. Yorùbá people are meticulous in their advancement and civilization. Every anthropologist and historian who is in the habit of studying the Yorùbá people would reveal to you how they built their civilization bricks by bricks. Exposed to the same socio-spiritual trajectory, they have created an enabling and safe environment for their identity with great pride in what and who they are. For millennia, Yorùbá people charted a course of history demonstrating their forebears’ valour. These long-term thinkers devised different means to cope with the prevailing predicament that nature throws at them. When external forces threatened expansionist aggression, Yorùbá people found ways to absorb their pressure to survive as an identity. Their determination to be an identity, especially in the face of mortal danger, lies in the understanding that when broken into smaller units, they become vulnerable, and that would potentially mean that they risk the prospect of eliminating their race on the surface of the earth. They have had to deal with internal problems to keep themselves afloat in the politics of life. After all, survival is the most instinctual response humans and animals give to every dangerous encounter.

Second, he must learn history. I can reveal to the new Alaafin that his immediate predecessor took time to understand history. Alaafin Adeyemi’s power of retentive memory was second to none. He had a memory arsenal covering almost 500 years. Alaafin Owoade must know history. This is not a difficult task. He could inherit what Alaafin Adeyemi created, a cluster of scholars under the leadership of Professor Akin Alao of Obafemi Awolowo University. The new Alaafin could call on Professors Tayo Adesina, Olukoya Ogen, Siyan Oyewesi, Olufunke Adeboye, and others to prepare him for history lessons. Both Oyeweso and Adesina were very close to your predecessor, Alaafin Adeyemi III, who had commissioned the duo to embark on the Oyo Oral History Project. In October 2018, the duo organized an International Conference titled “Alaafin in Yoruba History: Culture and Political Power Relations” in honour of Alaafin Adeyemi, where I served as the Keynote Speaker.

He must remember that what remains constant is that while charting such historical undertakings in their past, both Oyo and Ile-Ife have been very prominent in determining the direction of their growth. In other words, these two urban communities were central to their sustenance as a people. From time to time, they have adapted and given room for the rise of subgroups among them who would defend the Yorùbá civilization and identity. In their recent history, Ibadan rose as the garrison of the Yorùbá military power, saddled with the responsibility of repelling external threats to protect their common interest.
The new Alaafin must not engage in historical revisionism as his counterparts now do. Rewriting history is dangerous, as in saying the Benin Empire owes little to Ile-Ife and Oranmiyan. Conflating Ugbo with Igbo is a wrong-footed interpretation of the past. He needs not to dabble in issues of superiority around who the superior king was in the past. Oyo and Ile-Ife are constant in the people’s history because they represented the seats of economic and political power and the spiritual rallying point of the Yorùbá people. Let him explore the consensus around historical prestige: the foundation of prominent Yorùbá ancestors and the creation of a glorious history.

The late Alaafin was bold in the right ways. The boldness of taking initiatives and profound actions that brought Oyo to the preeminence that it enjoys in the history of the Yorùbá people puts it on a close cultural pedestal with other powerful kingdoms. The Oyo empire remains strong in the history of the black people. That accomplishment is associated with Oyo and the political dynasty, which saw the sub-nation’s centuries-long imperial power over its environment. To that extent, when preserving Yorùbá identity and integrity, it is assumed that both Ile-Ife and Oyo save their race. I am a chief of the Gaa in Ghana, and without Ile-Ife and Oyo, the Yoruba’s reach to modern-day Ghana would not have been possible. The new Alaafin must visit all West African countries in solidarity. Going to Abidjan and the Gambia must be mandatory. He must reenergize cultural diplomacy to rebuild Pan-Yorubana.

As he rebuilds Pan-Yorubana, one of the most critical assignments for every Alaafin is to galvanize his royal authority to reinvigorate the consciousness of the Yorùbá people, generally both at home and abroad. For illustration, being the second-in-command to the supernatural forces, tradition dictates that no first-class Yorùbá Oba should bow for anyone, not even their biological parents, for the action of genuflecting by people of such authority means submission, not only of themselves but also the collective Yorùbá irrespective of their sub-nations. Alaafin Owoade is not part of the Sokoto Caliphate. No one has given him a flag! Yes, he is a Muslim, but he must see himself first as a Yoruba before being a Muslim. He is not the king of Muslims but the king of the Yoruba people. He must not be associated with the expansion of the Sharia. He is an Alaafin, a cultural Yoruba leader, not an Amir al-Mu’minin, the Commander of the Faithful. The day he gets drawn into political Islam, that day his rule is over.

Like his predecessor, he must be associated with isese. It is no coincidence that the stool of Alaafin is associated with Sàngó―that ferocious king creating the foundation of electricity and thermodynamics. Sàngó was one of the founders of science, a deity and King who represented boldly and exuded confidence and whose authority was widespread. As a deity, Sàngó is known to be the custodian of fire energy and could consume things with rage within a self-contained grid. Alaafin Adeyemi continued with the adoption of Sàngó, reaching far into the diaspora to consolidate that knowledge. The new Alaafin can convert this into modern science and seek the means to create technological hubs. A science academy can tap into an indigenous knowledge system while using the most expansive modern knowledge to move Oyo forward.

The new Alaafin must understand the need for contemporary leadership that is ethical and people-oriented. The socio-cultural import of Yorùbá history is that anyone sitting on that stool would inherit such character of leadership because they are meant to repel danger away from the Yorùbá world. Nobody will do this when they cannot take leadership responsibilities and initiatives. In essence, the Alaafin can make other chiefs accountable for their people and the Yorùbá populace generally by making them take charge of what is expected.

Nobody can deny that the collective sweat of the Yorùbá people is a shared responsibility of the people irrespective of where they are from, but central in such reality is the Alaafin, who would always make himself available for his people. As such, he is expected to call them to order when he notices things are not moving. Nobody dares to undermine the authority of the Alaafin among the Yorùbá people. For that reason, the new Alaafin should immediately take the authority of his office to see to the installation of the proper virtues on the thrones of Yorùbá kings. The position of Oba is an exclusive toil of selfless and relentless figures who were deeply rooted in indigenous power, and it should not be usurped by people masking their desire to please their expansionist allies.

The moral authority of the new Alaafin must not be compromised by atenuje and ijekuje. We should not see him drinking beer in public and frolicking with women of cheap virtues. Oba Owoade must not debase his office by collecting money from visa applicants who want to follow him to visit foreign lands. If he wants to wear his gym suits, please do not go on major streets in London. We can arrange private spaces for you. Alaafin Adeyemi consumed moderately ogi and moinmoin in the morning and amala with one piece of meat in the afternoon. One cannot say because he is a king, he would consume more salt than the commoners. Royalty is not about the consumption of massive bowls of food daily. Enjoyment with friends can be confined to secret spaces. Today, some obas collect envelopes to attend events, including naming ceremonies. This is a “no-no”. Alaafin Adeyemi gave me money, including writing a substantial check when I turned 65. When Alaafin Owoade picks small checks from his subjects, the gossip spreads faster and undermines his authority.

In recent times, Yorùbá cultural values have expanded beyond the shores of its immediate boundaries, and it does require that a more coordinated strategy must be used to place Yorùbá future at a vantage position where it will become impregnable to be overcome.

Here is a to-do list:
The Alaafin must visit Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada.The new Alaafin is expected to put Oyo on the global map by unearthing, promoting, and sustaining the Yoruba race’s history, tradition, and culture as one of its chief custodians.

Beyond its impressive artistic expression, Oyo’s breathtaking orature and rich Yoruba traditions cannot but promote the ubiquitous touristic potential of Oyo and Yorubaland.
He must reignite the consciousness of the people towards embracing their historical values. Oba Adeyemi warmed himself into many people’s minds because he was fearless. He worked very hard to get his facts right, and when convinced of a matter, he dared to speak up his conviction. He was even-handed in dealing with people and situations, and the motto of his reign was justice and mercy. He believed that culture was the principal magistrate of a person’s life.

He must promote the Yoruba language. It is the best thing that the Alaafin can do to plant the consciousness of the Yorùbá race into the hearts of its descendants and admirers who now occupy different places of the world. Yorùbá language must be revived as a language of technology in ways that anyone using whatever is produced by the Yorùbá people would be smitten by the profundity of their culture. To achieve this, the Alaafin can harness the political and economic power that Elédùmarè has granted to the descents of Oduduwa and create foundations for the technologizing of Yorùbá history, industry and economy.

The Alaafin must connect very keenly with Ile-Ife to defeat the possibility of internal contradictions and strife that could trigger implosion based on seeking self-serving ambitions. It is important to note that the world continues to showcase its capacity for self-destruction, especially in ways that some are hellbent on ruining everything. To be safe in such conditions, people must devise ways to be safe collectively. The responsibility to attain this rests on the shoulders of Alaafin and other first-class kings in Yorùbáland, and they should not delay swinging into action.

He must promote culture. From music to songs, literature to any form of art generally, the descendants of Oduduwa have demonstrated that an inexhaustible content is archived in the annals of Yorùbá history. It thus requires a coordinated mechanism to help promote such engagement to increase the popularity of Yorùbá and make their people embrace the identity they have had reasons to conceal for a long time.

He must promote peace. Yorùbá people are easygoing, peaceful and tranquil. They are constantly seeking ways to allow them to make maximum impact without being subjected to malicious treatment or being taken advantage of by people who miscalculate their calmness for idiocy. However, recent developments have indicated that internal contradictions are imminent except if the people come together and understand what is at stake when they allow themselves to be used by external forces whose predominant ambition is to exploit and subject Yorùbá race to generational subservience.

He must have foresight. The Alaafin is responsible for using his foresight to solve problems that have yet to germinate. This is the turf of generations of Alaafin who lived thousands of years ago, and that tradition must be sustained in contemporary times. When they continue to promote Yorùbá interests, they will have a better chance of establishing a sound economic power base that will help the descendants of Oduduwa remain relevant for ages to come.

While he must respect all religious leaders, he must not go to Pentecostal churches to kneel for pastors to place their hands on him. He could do so in private.

He must continue with the initiative to build a museum at Oyo. UNESCO has declared Ifa as a heritage site in Oyo. It is essential to complement this with a modern museum accessible to his people from far and near. Within a few weeks of the passing of Alaafin Adeyemi, the distinguished Professor Isaac Albert called me to say that we must collect all his extraordinary dresses and regalia to be part of a museum. But without urgent security control, loot seekers immediately plundered parts of the palace. This must never happen again.

Summon prominent leaders to a meeting and let them understand the roles they would have to play in protecting the interest and integrity of the Yorùbá people because when the home is peaceful and safe, its children would have the confidence to invest back there. If you do not undermine the political authority of political leaders, they are historically under your jurisdiction, and you should use the power vested in you by the immaterial forces to propel Yorùbá people to greatness by suggesting ways through which they can protect the Yorùbá people on the land that their forebears bequeathed onto them. You must anticipate the infiltration of Yorubaland by forces that do not mean well for Yoruba people and work with other traditional rulers and stakeholders to map out strategies to preempt and forestall such infiltration. A mechanism to erect a non-physical wall of defence against external aggression should be implemented in Yorubaland. You should take the lead in pushing this initiative forward. Yorùbáland must promise economic, spiritual, intellectual, ideological, political, and environmental safety for all indigenes of Oduduwa, irrespective of their sub-nations. They should not become second-class citizens in their land, fought for with the blood of their ancestors. It must become the most fertile land for everyone, irrespective of race, gender, and religion.

Adopt an intellectual committee system, in addition to the existing traditional chieftaincies, to further modernize the system. You can have Intellectual Advisory Committees on history, culture, politics, education, economies, etc.

As a matter of urgency, the Alaafin must constitute the Oyo Development Committee along the lines of the Ondo Development Committee (ODC), a vibrant organization. An experienced biographer of ODC who can be contacted is the renowned administrator and distinguished scholar, Professor Femi Mimiko, who once sent a note to me, saying, “In the Ondo Development Committee (ODC), we stay on course. We aim to support the King and the Kingdom in developing our community. Development, since the last Ekimogun Day, has been good. Some of our people have come out to work on the projects they sponsored while we in the ODC have continued working on our infrastructure and other social projects. With these, our streets are better lit, some of our schools are being rebuilt, and the projects we embark on, like the Igba electronic market, continue to grow. … We have always realized that the Government cannot do it alone and thank God that we have great people with pronounced friends that are supporting our daunting visions by taking up some of the responsibilities of our development.”

The Alaafin can create an Oyo Microfinance Bank on strict professionalism to recapitalize low-income people. While the late Alaafin was generous in granting scholarships to people, this should be formalized into a modern banking system where people can take loans and repay. The Asanteman Council negotiated a World Bank loan to empower thousands of farmers. A professional team not interested in corruption can do the same for Oyo.

In relation to the preceding, royal institutions must now centre on development. In the past, Yoruba Obas did not rule their domains as mere mortals. The sacredness, rituals and myths associated with the Yoruba monarchical system are among the few reasons why Yoruba traditional systems and values garnered so much respect and admiration. However, against the backdrop that the awe, reverence, rituals and mysteries associated with the Yoruba royalty have dissipated over the years, contemporary Yoruba monarchical institutions will now be judged on the practical benefits they can bring to their subjects. It is this charitable purpose, more than anything else, that promises to restore and sustain royal popularity and respectability. The new Alaafin will have to look inward and see how Oyo and, by extension, Yorubaland can further be developed socio-economically, culturally and sustainably.

The new Alaafin’s reign must usher in an Oyo monarchy that has moved far away from royal jamborees and the prosecution of supremacy battles to being an institution of value that is contributing significantly to the realisation of Goal number 11.4 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which has to do with the promotion of indigenous culture. Indeed, culture is at the heart of the SDGs. Culture is who we are and what shapes our identity. Placing culture at the heart of development policies is the only way to ensure human-centred, inclusive and equitable development.

Security. Alaafin Adeyemi III paid attention to this, and I can confirm that he spent much of his money securing many places under his authority.

To the newly emerged Alaafin Abimbola Akeem Owoade, I reawaken your consciousness by revealing that your role in keeping the Yorùbá people in national and global politics is sacrosanct. Because Elédùmarè chose you, hundreds of Irúnmolè and your forebears are behind you. I cannot doubt the innate possibilities you have to consolidate the rise of Oyo and the Yorùbá people worldwide in a global age. There are too many contending forces and issues. I supported your predecessor to the best of my ability and promise to help you to the extent you desire.
Ọmọ Owoade o kú ewu

Ewu iná kan kìí pàwòdì

Aláàfin ikú bàbá yèyé

Káde kó pẹ́ lórí

Kí bàtà ò pẹ́ lẹ́ṣẹ́

Kí ìrùkẹ̀rẹ̀ ó jẹ́ kó dokinni

Láyé olúgbọ́n ayé rójú

Láyé Arẹsà ayé kúkú tòrò

Láyé Aláàfin Abimbola

Kí ìgbà kò tu tonílé-tàlejò

Kí ara kó dẹ tọmọdẹ́-tàgbà

Àwọn alálẹ̀ a sì tì ọ́ lẹ́yìn

Ǹlẹ́ ọmọ òjò pa ṣẹ̀kẹ̀rẹ̀ mọdẹ àtìbà

Ọmọ ikú tíkú ò gbọ̀dọ̀ pa

Ó di dandan kó o dádé yìí pẹ́

O kú oríire

Àwọ́n aláṣeku a sì bá ọ ṣe e

Títirí méje làá kọ́mọ Aláàfin

Ilá tiri ilá kó

Ikàn tiri wẹ̀wù ẹ̀jẹ̀

Ìkóǹkó tiri mọ́yán

Àwọ̀n tiri pẹja

Ọmọ Owoade

Mo bá ọ yọ̀

O kú oríire.

By  Tunji Olaopa
This piece is one of the technical notes that I used in some seminal conversations before now, one of many others that I consider should be shared, in spite of its seminal tone, for the benefit of public managers-learners who are spread all over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and beyond, and for public education.  In penning this contribution, I am interested in a sort of agenda setting that has the capacity to generate discourse around public cum civil service institutional reformulation  and its framework of relevance especially in a postcolonial context like Nigeria. All across the world, public administration serves the purpose of outlining and concretizing the administrative agenda that allows the state intervene positively in the lives of the citizenry. This therefore places a huge responsibility on the public service — and the public administration scholarship and communities of service and practice — to get up to speed in outlining a pathway that will transform the professional endeavor into a sturdy representative of state activities and responsibilities to the people. Like every other endeavor, public administration must necessarily respond to the multiplicity of events, circumstances and occurrences that have come to define the world in the twenty-first century.

Public administration has come a long way since its first documented formation, with the rudimentary but fundamental beginning in the ancient pharaonic Egypt through to the high political intrigues and engineering feats of the Roman society to the exigencies of the industrial revolution of the nineteen century. In the twenty-first century, and all across the world, public administration is even more challenged by current circumstances shaping not only national administrative imagination but also international and global relations. In the first place, public administration is today immersed in what has been called a VUCA environment. This implies that public administration and its processes, procedures and institutional operations must be factored into an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The VUCA world implies the myriad degrees of shocks, threats, cynicism, turbulence and challenges that governments all across the world must have to respond to in order to design and formulate policies that will resonate with the yearnings of an increasingly politically sophisticated citizenry. The VUCA environment is aggravated by what has come to be called a polycrisis, a fundamentally complex situation as a result of many crises, conflicts and complex issues reinforcing and complicating one another in sequences that aggravate any existing circumstances that humans and states find themselves. In such a situation of a polycrisis, the overall consequences and impacts of the complex crisis is greater than the sum of all the variables making it up. For example, poverty in the world today is now a function of climate change, economic recession, natural disasters, bad governance and political instability.

Within a VUCA environment, policies and their trajectories and dynamics cannot be considered as simplistic and linear endeavors. This is compounded by the fact that the status and role of the public manager, as the administrative and policy craftsman, has kept changing: (a) the ‘I am directed’ rule-oriented bureaucrat (public manager 1.0), (b) business-oriented and performance-focused manager (2.0), and (c) networking and relations-focused collaborator (3.0). This transition reflects the transformation of thinking about public administration and the public service from Max Weber to Woodrow Wilson and from the new public management (NPM) to the idea of new governance. The VUCA environment within which the twenty-first century public manager is expected to effectively and efficiently function is further complicated when it is considered from the perspectives of a postcolonial context like Nigeria. Africa is often considered as the most difficult administrative context in the world. And that is essentially because the organic maturation of public administration had been disrupted not only by colonial rule but also postcolonial consequences of a logic of extraction. This therefore implies that public administration and the public manager in Africa must not only anticipate and preempt current and recurrent challenges that ail governance on the continent, but must also be conversant with emerging trends and paradigms shifts that are determining the trajectory and possible directions that public administration is taking in the evolving fourth revolution and knowledge society mediated by digital and destructive technologies, from the blockchain and robotics to enterprise resource planning and big data.

Trend analysis therefore becomes a necessary and inevitable tool for prospecting for patterns, scenarios and variances in order to determine future prospects and achieve strategic decision-making. Trend analysis relies essentially on empirical and historical data and evidence to determine, monitor and forecast short- or long-term institutional changes that could constitute downtrends or uptrends for any particular endeavor. In public administration, it involves gathering historical and current data on emerging trends that could get the public managers to make decisive and evidence-based strategic decisions that would get the public service to perform more effectively and efficiently for better service delivery. This serves the purpose of empowering the public managers and public administration scholars and experts to gather valuable insights into  how far public administration practices have come, the emerging developments that are shaping the practices, and the future prospects in the profession. It also enables public managers to generate crucial understanding of performance metrics that could keep pushing the boundaries of the operational functionality of the public service for optimal performance and productivity.
The most recent source of polycrisis all over the world was the COVID-19 pandemic that decimated millions of lives across the globe and facilitated in its wake what is now called the “new normal” in terms of human social relations, societal dynamics and structural cum institutional realignments. Humans have been forced to reassess normal patterns of doing things at some professional levels. We now work from home, adapted to a blended educational schedule, attend conferences and symposia virtually, and so on. In economic, social, political and even spiritual terms, there are now dramatic transformations that were instigated by the precarious developments of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new normal is enabled by digital and other new technologies and the new information dispensation to disrupt the usual dynamics of social, cultural and professional lives. The pandemic triggered a deluge of challenging situations for public administration and the public service to deal with. This can be likened in a sense to the administrative challenges that the Nigerian Civil War posed to Nigeria’s public service and those we now call the “super permanent secretaries.”

The COVID-19 pandemic struck most governments and their public administration dynamics at this critical service delivery point. And the tragedy of the pandemic is that it caught the entire world at varying administrative stages and phases of the normal. This is even worse for the third world countries, and Africa especially. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, the Nigerian public service system had been afflicted by a bureau-pathological protocol defined by a collusion between what we all know as the “Nigerian factor” and some damaging systemic debilities. The tragedy of the pandemic and of Nigeria’s unpreparedness for it has presented the public service system with a unique opportunity to reflect on and rethink its governance and administrative policies. And so, with the sudden transformation of the way we look at work and the workplace dynamics, the public service had to forcefully embrace what used to be the staple of administrative conferences and forecasting.

The transformation of the workplace, as part of the key reform for preparing public administration to manage the fourth industrial revolution especially in Africa, demands the deployment of human resource management to achieve performance and productivity. The transformation of the workplace and work ethics gives the public service the capacity to recruit a global workforce and create incentives that increase employee loyalty and commitment, and collaborations that generate productivity. This gives room for the achievement of a better work-life balance deriving from freer time and flexibility to work. It also crucially facilitates the acquisition of “twenty-first century literacies”: (a) interpersonal skills: facilitation, empathy, political skills; (b) synthesising skills: sorting evidence, analysis, making judgements, offering critique and being creative; (c) organising skills: group work, collaboration and peer review; and (d) communication skills: better use of new media and multi-media resources. The smart public manager must also factor into the mix the unique cultural and sociological demands that the emergence of the Gen Z, Gen Alpha and Gen Beta are bringing or will bring into the constitution of the workplace as a technology-enabled;@ space with its own peculiar generational dynamics. No conscious public manager will ignore the demands of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in making the workplace more broad-based and strategic.

Apart from the immediate need for flexible and remote work protocols that transformed the workplace and its dynamics, the imperative of open government suddenly got a new lease of life. Since the emergence of the new public management and the managerial revolution that drove it, the objective has been to achieve a government that is FAST—flatter, agile, streamlined and technology-enabled. And one way to do this is not only to install a performance management system, but to also facilitate an open government framework that allows for the co-creation of values through citizen engagement. For instance, a flat government demands that the distance between government and the citizens be decreased through the deployment of digital technologies and the social media and mobile technologies that increase the participation of citizens in administrative and decision-making processes. Open government therefore increases transparency and accountability in government decision- making, removes red tape and hierarchies, and enables cross-sectoral collaborations.

The open government initiative also makes possible an open data platform that governments across the world are deploying to further facilitate citizens engagement and interactions with the policies of government. Through emerging communication and information technologies, governments make available data and information that the citizens can use. Tracking and mapping systems also help the citizens to interrogate government’s expenditures and decision dynamics. Open government and the open data initiatives are made possible by the right to information legislation that makes it imperative for the government, through its MDAs, to share critical information about its processes and procedures with its citizens. The open government partnership plays a crucial role in grounding the significance of the public-private partnership. This is achieved through a networked dynamic that open government and its deployment of communication and digital technologies make possible. The government can now draw the private sector into a governance space for tackling challenging administrative and governance issues that the government or the private sector could never tackle on its own.

The idea of open government and its potential for making public administration more effective inevitably raises the specter of cybersecurity with regard to the value of big data, data sovereignty and how this could be compromised. For example, data sovereignty gives a government the control over sensitive information and data that its public administrative institutions and processes require to function effectively. It also prevents these data and information from unauthorized access or information mining and misuse that could compromise the significance and values of these data and information. Hence, governments need to manage the circumferences of its data sovereignty by monitoring and anticipating data breach and vulnerability. Public managers will therefore be tasked with the imperative of thinking more strategically about the critical relationship between open government, open access to big data, administrative efficiency and the threat of data breach through cyber-attacks. This inevitably demands the significant role of cybersecurity professionals who can anticipate and deal with cyber-threats as they emerge.

The reforms that will shape public administration of the future will be determined significantly by the capacity of public services across the world to leverage digital, communication and information technologies to d04-/+8 @1 both create strategies and be strategic. Creating a strategy, on the one hand, is a process of translating a plan into a set of results. On the other hand, however, being strategic is a competence that involves critical thinking. The two point at the urgent need for the public service to generate strategic thinking required for the change management that will move the institution forward into more optimal functionality and productivity. Both must be channeled institutionally to the most central process of strategic decision making. Creating strategies and being strategic in administrative decision-making demands the deployment of new thinking and developments in decision science.

Decision science has become a critical field that has integrated cognate developments from artificial intelligence, organisational psychology, systems thinking, machine learning, probabilistic modeling, scenario analysis, big data analytics, and many more to become a key area that the public service must buy into to push forward its policy intelligence that strengthens decision-making. Modern policy making that has taken cognizance of decision science will most likely possess nine fundamental features: (i) forward-looking; (ii) outward-looking; (iii) innovative, flexible and creative; (iv) evidence-based; (v) evaluation; (vi) review; (vii) joined-up; (viii) inclusive; and (ix) learned lessons.
Artificial intelligence plays a critical role in decision science and strategic decision-making for the public administration of the future. AI possesses a huge significance for the objective of making the public service an efficient institution for democratic service delivery that optimizes democratic governance. AI not only makes possible the digitization of crucial data and information, it simplifies routine and tedious tasks, and fast-tracks data analysis. It is also inevitable in facilitating the open government and open data aspiration that transform public administration. However, in deploying AI in public administration, the public manager must factor in the multiple ethical and legal concerns, especially in terms of human rights issues that link AI to labour issues and industrial relations.

The last fundamental trend that public administration must factor into its reform is the emergence of a flexible, updated and up-to-date curriculum that benefits from the contemporary discourses on public administration, current administrative practices, and also feeds administrative education and training. The curriculum will feature syllabi on artificial intelligence and its critical significance, the role of new technologies in public service efficiency, human resource management and the new workplace, the imperatives of open government, etc. The curriculum, for example will explore the relationship between the public service and commercial/market tools, analysis, techniques and models for gathering commercial data that will enhance the effectiveness of the public service in terms of project management, asset and facility management, outsourcing, contract awards, and so on.

. Olaopa is a Professor of Public Administration, and  the Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission,Abuja.