Widely described as an ardent reformer, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan is known for her passionate and visionary leadership of the Nigeria Civil Service. Dr. Yemi-Esan attended the prestigious University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where she graduated as best Bachelor of Dental Surgery student. She also holds a Certificate in Health Planning and Management, and Masters’ Degree in Public and International Administration both with distinctions from the Universities of Ilorin and Lagos respectively.
She started her career at the Federal Ministry of Health and rose to the rank of Director and served in different capacities until she was appointed Federal Permanent Secretary in 2012. Dr. Yemi-Esan served as Permanent Secretary, Service Policies and Strategies Office in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and thereafter in the Federal Ministry of Information where she first initiated and pioneered the automation of workflows with a solution dubbed the “File Tracker”. It is worth noting that the leadership of the Office of the Head of Service at the time, dispatched a team to the Ministry to understudy the pilot implementation of the solution. In addition, Dr. Yemi-Esan served in the Federal Ministry of Education, Career Management Office (OHCSF) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, where she was appointed as Director on the Boards of the Nigeria LNG and the Bonny Gas Transport Ltd.
At the helm of affairs in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Yemi-Esan’s service to the nation, has been suffused with remarkable and unprecedented strides which validate government’s commitment to the welfare and development of its workforce and are a precursor to the attainment of a “New Civil Service of Our Dream”. These include, the implementation of the flagship Enterprise Content Management Solution; the successful service-wide development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); driving the Performance Management System (PMS) to replace the ineffective and paper-based Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER); and the introduction of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification in the Civil Service.
Other landmark achievements worth mentioning are, the implementation of massive and structured training/capability building programmes for all cadres of officers including Permanent Secretaries; the review of Public Service Rules and the Schemes of Service; reinforcement of the Planning Officer Cadre; unprecedented upgrading of the Human Resource Module of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPIS) which has led to the successful clean-up and verification of data of all staff in the core and non-core MDAs.
Undoubtedly, Dr. Yemi-Esan’s remarkable achievements and unassuming disposition have earned her many accolades. Most prominent of these are the National Honour of the Commander, Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) and National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) Award. She is a Member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) as well as the Chartered Institute of Loan and Risk Management of Nigeria.
In her pursuit of transforming the Federal Civil Service to a world class institution driven by technology, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, CFR is championing culture change, change management, meritocracy and institutionalising Rewards and Recognition of Officers in the Service.