Mrs Modupe Adekunle - Head of Service, Ogun State
Mrs Modupe Adekunle - Head of Service, Ogun State
Ogun State governor - Senator Ibikunle Amosun has promised that his government will continue to expose the State’s workforce to local and international training in order to broaden their knowledge.
He made the promise in the State Capital - Abeokuta while speaking at a one-day Public Service Forum Lecture titled “Civil Service in Nigeria, the Past, the Present and the Future” delivered by the State's first Head of Service and Secretary to the State Government - Pa Adedotun Degun.
Amosun noted that the Ogun State Public Service is ranked high among its peers in the federation, urging the workforce to keep up the momentum in order not to disappoint the founding fathers of the State.
Speaking on retired workers' pension, the Governor revealed that a sum of one billion naira had been set aside to partly offset the gratuity of workers who retired last December.
Delivering his lecture, Pa Degun who started his career in 1956 under the Western Region Government Civil Service said performance, dedication to duty and loyalty to constituted authority were the guiding principles during the period, recalling that on its creation, Ogun State inherited a crop of dedicated public servants.
On the present condition of the civil service in Nigeria, Chief Degun said there were lots of challenges facing it today saying “despite regular increase in workers' salaries, salaries of civil servants are still very low. That is why civil servants try other means to augment their salary which is seriously affecting productivity in the service”. He also identified job insecurity, lack of adequate tools to work with and favouritism as part of the problems facing the service and advised public servants to refrain from partisan politics, refusal to accept transfers, bribery, misappropriation of funds, divided loyalty, sexual harassment among several others.
He charged governments at all levels to make the civil service attractive and accord it respect and dignity noting that “civil servants should be trained and re-trained towards ensuring professionalism; appointment in the civil service should be based on merit while promotion and advancement should not be based on favouritism”. On the future of civil service in Nigeria, Pa Degun said he could see it becoming one driven by rules and regulations, attractive remuneration, job security and capable of proffering solutions to the myriad of problems facing the nation.
In her remarks, the State Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe Adekunle said the forum was an opportunity for interaction among public servants in the State. She expressed hope that the forum would bring about a new work attitude that will translate into organisational efficiency and high productivity.