The
Governor Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has called for a revamped civil
service to ensure efficient service delivery in the country.
Governor
Okowa made the call today while declaring open a 2-day "Strategic
Executive Retreat" for political appointees and permanent secretaries in
Delta State.
The
retreat which has "Revamping the Ethos of Governance and Business" as
its theme took place at the African Institute for Public Policies, Onicha Ugbo,
Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State.
Governor
Okowa told participants that it was an opportunity for the appointees to
acquaint themselves with the direction of government.
While
stating that the political appointees were very necessary for the smooth
operations of government, Governor Okowa said there was the need for a change
in mind-set of civil servants for them to think about serving the people rather
than themselves.
According
to the Governor, "I believe that for us to move forward as a government, a
revamped public service is important, we should first discipline ourselves and
I hope that by 2016 we would have been able to put processes in place to truly
revamp the public service to ensure that it passes an integrity test and to be
sure that those who head ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are those
that are trusted and I believe that it lies squarely on the Head of Service to
drive this process."
"Ideally
Permanent Secretaries are supposed to be the key drivers in our various MDAs
but for you to drive a process you must be prepared to truly be a driver of the
process; if your conviction is not about the people but about money then there
is failure from the beginning; no matter how good a Commissioner is, if you
have a very difficult Permanent Secretary it is a problem and I believe that
our Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries should work in such a manner that
they are able to create synergy in their various ministries," the Governor
stated.
"if
in the future we begin to see transfers and cross transfers it is not about
punishment, it is not about seniority it is going to be about where you fit in
best to create positive change, offer service and wherever you find yourself,
you must be ready to take that place to the top." He stressed.
The
Governor noted that with the dwindling revenue as a result of persistent fall
in the price of oil, MDAs should be proactive towards revenue generation.
He
further stated that, "revenue generation is a very key factor for the
smooth operation of government; the oil price has dropped very badly and there
is a challenge nationally and very huge challenge in the state because as the
revenues reduce our salaries remain the same."
"This
month, by the time we got our receipts the lowest from the FAAC (Federal
Accounts Allocation Commission), we barely had enough to pay salaries, and that
shows you how bad the situation is, so we need to do a lot in terms of IGR
(internally generated revenue) because, from the first to second quarter of the
year we have had a drop of 30.7 per cent in revenue and from the look of
things, it is dropping further as there are oil revenue loss nationally of N372
billion naira which has directly affected the non-oil revenue which also
dropped to N107 billion naira," he added.
Senator
Okowa reiterated, "if we are going to succeed, it will require strategic
planning and it will not be business as usual, we are at a time where every
kobo counts and we must be cautious in the way we spend public funds, so, we
must begin to think about the interest of the people in whatever we do, we must
be committed to Delta State, we must be committed to Deltans."
Earlier
in an opening speech, Dr Yemi Amusan commended the visionary approach to
problem-solving of Senator Okowa, asserting that strategies would be reviewed
during the retreat.
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