By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that the ongoing reforms in the state’s civil and public service would bolster the government’s efforts at ensuring a sustainable future for the state and improve productivity and service delivery to Edo people.
The governor also said the government was strengthening the civil and public service to ensure that the state’s workforce was equipped with the right tools and skills.
The governor, who spoke in Benin City, advocated fot the support all citizens in realizing the administration’s vision of making Edo great again.
He pointed out that the government was working assiduously to rethink how it could deliver better services to Edo people.
His words: “As a government, we realise that we cannot deliver on our mandates if we neglect the engine of the vehicle that will take us to that destination, which is the civil and public service.
“We are working assiduously to rethink how we can deliver better services to our people and I can assure you that what we are doing in Edo State is unrivalled in Nigeria today.
“We are rethinking policies and functions of the government. What is the purpose of government? Should the government be competing with citizens or providing the enabling environment for its citizens to live to their fullest? What should be the role of the people who are paid by the government to provide these services?
“How do we monitor and train them to make sure that they deliver on these services to us?
“How do we reward them when they efficiently deliver on these services? How does the government raise money in the face of dwindling revenue from the national government to carry out these services? How do we communicate to continue to build the trust of all our citizens in all our doings so that we continue to carry them along?”
Reassuring that the government, as part of the ongoing reforms, will provide training and support for workers in the civil and public service to improve efficiency and service delivery, Obaseki said it that was unfair to continue to spend taxpayers money on people who were not working or don’t have the capacity to work. “We pay N40 billion yearly on payment of salaries and allowances and it’s only fair that we get value for what we are paying for; that can only be through services to our people. We will not allow people to continue in the traditional way of not working and getting paid. Some are even abroad and still get paid locally; that’s not fair and it is not the right thing to do,” the governor said.