The Public Service Succession Plan: How Ready is Africa?

By Muki Osaka, Director of Enterprise Management, Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation

Introduction: A New Generation Knocks
Just as many businesses are now grasping how best to manage the Gen Z work ethic, another reminder jolts us – by 2030, barely five years from now, Gen Alpha – the generation born into Artificial Intelligence (AI), content creation, streaming, and instant connectivity, will officially join the workforce.

Let’s not even begin to imagine what Gen Beta will bring.

Africa’s public service, like every other sector, is entering a critical phase of generational transition. Millennials and Gen Zs now form a significant portion of the workforce. Yet, a pressing question lingers: how ready are we to hand over the baton to the next generation?

While not every Millennial or Gen Z may be regarded as a “digital native,” many have grown up in environments shaped by technology — where learning, communication, and workplace productivity depend heavily on digital tools. But is Africa’s public sector attractive enough to keep them? Is it ready to evolve for them?

This is not just a rhetorical question; it is a call to action. Africa’s public service must now interrogate its readiness for intentional generational transition — its succession plan to build leadership pipelines, modernise systems, and create work cultures aligned with today’s realities. Technology will be a crucial enabler, but the real opportunity lies in blending digital innovation with people-centred policies that ensure resilience and relevance.

The Quest: Where Are We Now?
Let’s start with a snapshot of Africa’s digital landscape.

According to The African Exponent (June 15, 2025), the ten most technologically advanced countries in Africa are Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia, and Rwanda — with Kenya topping the list and Nigeria ranking third. These rankings, corroborated by the Global Innovation Index (WIPO) and the ICT Development Index (ITU) 2025, reflect significant progress, especially in AI, fintech, e-commerce, and manufacturing.

However, there’s a catch – most of these advancements are private-sector driven. How much of this innovation is mirrored in public service? Are public institutions adopting and implementing these technologies beyond policy debates — into the actual engine rooms of governance and administration? Are they creating environments where the next generation can build upon what exists rather than start from scratch?

The African Exponent reports that Rwanda stands out with its strong e-government performance. Similarly, In On Africa (26 August 2026) highlights Morocco’s Digital Morocco 2030 strategy, which positions the country as a potential digital hub for North Africa. Nigeria has also articulated its plans through the National e-Government Master Plan and Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, both aimed at improving public sector efficiency through digital transformation.

On paper, these strategies look promising, but in practice, one must ask: how much of this is translating into continuity and future-readiness? Are these policies grooming successors who can sustain and scale them?

Succession and the Workforce: The Missing Pipeline

The statistics are revealing.

Nigeria’s 2023 Labour Force Survey reports that 74.4% of employees work in the private sector, while only 25.6% are in the public sector. Within the 15–24 age group, just 2% work in the public sector — a concerning figure for a continent talking about future readiness.

Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s 2018 Forum Report on Public Service in Africa found that across 26 African countries (excluding Nigeria), the public sector accounts for only 11.6% of total employment, with 10 countries having less than 5% representation. Only Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Seychelles reported rates above 20%.

More recent research by the Bureaucracy Lab of the World Bank suggests that public sector employment makes up only around 10% of total employment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia and Zambia have the largest public sectors as a share of formal employment (70%) while Niger has only 2% of its total employment representing the public sector.

So, why is the public sector losing the next generation?

Despite multiple national digital roadmaps developed by various African governments, the civil service remains largely analogue in operations and culture. For many young people, the public sector may appear technologically stagnant — a place where innovation suffocates under bureaucracy. With the heavy reliance on manual systems, how does a young employee learn, grow, or compete with their peers in the private sector or in the public sectors of more advanced nations?

Digitalisation within the civil service is no longer optional — it’s a 21st-century survival requirement.
Some of the other plausible reasons for the lack of attraction could include:
Motivation: Job security exists, but wage dissatisfaction persists.
Recruitment and Advancement: Often influenced by politics, not merit.
Mobility: Inter-sector mobility is not as frequent and often politically driven.

In such an environment, what incentive does a talented Gen Z or Gen Alpha have to build a lifelong career in public service?

The Rethink: Building the Next Generation Public Service
Every government professes sustainability and national development, but how intentional are they about succession planning in the civil service? What steps are being taken towards timely, deliberate, effective implementation?
The challenge isn’t only about replacing retiring officers or filling vacant spaces — it’s about reimagining the future workforce of governance: one that integrates technology, transparency, and talent.

At the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, we partner with the Nigerian Federal Civil Service to provide the right digitalisation infrastructure, skills, and tools required to forge a sustainable path for succession planning.

Africa’s next generation will not wait for reform; they will move to where their skills are rewarded, their voices matter, and the systems work. If the continent’s public institutions do not evolve fast enough and adjust their succession plans to the generation’s evolution, they risk becoming obsolete relics of the past, while the private sector races ahead.

So, perhaps the question isn’t just “Is Africa ready for succession?” but rather: can Africa afford not to be?

A kobo for your thoughts.

(Sources used: Online publications of The African Exponent, Annual Nigerian Labour Force, In On Africa, and Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Report (created 2021) by Bureaucracy lab of the World bank on Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators Regional Outlook: Sub-Sahara Africa))