Posted by The PM News on
Lagos State Governor Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) at the weekend called for a return to the good old days when the best brains from Nigerian higher institutions are recruited into the civil service.
Lagos State Governor Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) at the weekend called for a return to the good old days when the best brains from Nigerian higher institutions are recruited into the civil service.
He said the civil service should not be seen as a dumping ground for mediocrities.
Fashola told the Head of Service of the Federation, Ms Ama Pepple who visited him at the Lagos House, Alausa that it is ironic that the best brains are no longer being attracted to the civil service.
He said it was only when the best materials were at the helm of public service that informed advice could be given to political leaders.
He added that the public service should not be the place for second best materials; but rather, it should attract the best.
He advised public servants to be courageous and to always advise political leaders truthfully.
Fashola also called for the elimination of insecurity among public servants as an antidote to abuse of office.
He said this could be achieved through a simplification of the process of administration of gratuity and pension of retired officers to make it less cumbersome for a retiree to get his pension immediately after retirement.
He said it could be morale dampening for a retired officer to retire and be subjected to rigorous hurdles such as having to produce his letter of first appointment before his pension could be processed.
The governor commended the initiative of Ms Pepple for going round the federation, saying with the exercise, she is feeling the pulse of the nation instead of staying in Abuja and using that as a yardstick for the whole federation.
He said Nigeria is a federation under which the needs of one component state would be different from the other such that it should not be a one-size-fits-all arrangement.
Fashola said such visit should be done in advance in future so that it could assist in decision making by political leaders.
He urged state and federal authorities to resolve pension problems which have caused a crisis of confidence between the two parties.
He said both parties should always interrelate always because disagreements, if allowed to fester, would be injurious to their relationship, adding: "when we interrelate, we help our people and our country."
He described Ms Pepple as a woman who signposts the leadership role that women are more urgently and rapidly taking.
Earlier, Ms Pepple had congratulated the governor on his achievements, saying that she has noticed a clean city in Lagos while visiting federal establishments.
She promised to take up the issue of refund of pension contributions by the state after being fully briefed on the issue.
Ms Pepple, who said she was in Lagos to see federal establishments, thanked the governor for providing over 40 buses for workers' transportation.