Benin, Nigeria – By Oladipo Airenakho
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Monday, charged Permanent Secretaries in the state to maximize efficiency and eliminate leakages in the public sector.
The Governor who gave the charge while swearing-in eleven new Permanent Secretaries in the State Civil Service in Benin City also tasked them to improve the State civil service with their wealth of experience.
“No government can deliver without an efficient and competent Civil Service. The entire thing that is referred to everywhere as transparency, accountability, due process is basically a celebration of bureaucracy.
“I can’t get anything done without following certain procedures. So your role in our system is clear; politicians will come and go but the service remains.
‘So I ask you to help me to deliver on my commitments to take Edo to the next level. It is a huge commitment now because our resources are dwindling, I have no control over those external issues yet the demand of our people is ever rising,”
Oshiomhole said that the desire of the state government to meet the expectation of the people demanded a high level of efficiency in the service at a time of financial constraints, stressing: “We need to collect all the taxes that are due to government and the collection of taxes is also a function of an efficient and committed Civil Service.”
“So I ask you to block every loophole you can find in the chain. Help us to maximize efficiency, eliminate leakages and advise us on what we can do differently to improve the productivity of the public service.”
He acknowledged the importance of their expertise, saying: “so I ask you today, as you celebrate your appointment that you also recognize that it is a huge cost and a huge responsibility that have been placed on your shoulders.”
He advised the newly appointed Permanent Secretaries to always scrutinize all memos for efficient communication in administrative processes.
Edo State Government under his stewardship, he continued, is not owing salary and that he insisted that salaries must be paid before the last working day of every month.
Oshiomhole regretted that last month was particularly challenging for his administration “because the previous government emptied the treasury but I can’t tell you that we are earning about 40% of our projected revenue and therefore we cannot pay.”
“Some Governors have done that and are in arrears for several months and the Federal Government under Okonjo-Iweala was borrowing money from banks to pay salaries but we have never borrowed to pay salaries.
“We were not even allowed to borrow money to fund capital projects while they were borrowing. There was an attempt to strangulate those of us who were considered as opposition states.”
Oshiomhole promised to maintain the culture of paying salaries promptly and called on workers in the state to reciprocate government’s gesture through commitment to duty.
Mrs. Caroline Avielele who responded on behalf of the new permanent secretaries expressed gratitude to the Comrade Governor for the great honor done to them, assuring that they, as Permanent Secretaries, will rededicate themselves to duty in order to complement his concerted effort in bringing development to Edo State.
Those sworn in included, Mr. Lucky Wasa, one-time Chief Press Secretary to former Governor Lucky Igbinedion, Mr. Peter Aibueku, Mrs. C.I Avielele and Dr. C.O.U. Aibaogun.
Others were N.O Omozeghian, A.E. Okoh, Dr. M. Agberior, N.A. Ikoghide, D.I. Dania, A.I. Omoruyi and A.O. Idanwekhai.
