President Goodluck Jonathan has urged the new Head of Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi,to pursue the ongoing reform in the service vigourously.
Jonathan spoke in Abuja after swearing in Kifasi and Chima Odunze, the member representing Abia/Imo in the Federal Civil Service Commission, just before the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting began.
He said there were still some “aberrations” in the service even with the reform that began during the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
“We started to talk about reforms from the days of Obasanjo till today, but we still notice certain aberrations, and we believe that as the new Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, you will make sure that things are done properly.
“Your predecessors did very well. I have worked with so many heads of service from when I became the vice president till now – I think about four or so. I think you are the fifth person; they all did wonderfully well and I believe you will even improve on that.”
Jonathan said the nation could not move forward if public officers deviated from standard practice and resorted to personal judgments in the discharge of official duties.
According to him, the essence of bureaucracy in the service is to ensure that things are properly done to minimise errors. “When people keep away from the standard practice and decide to do what they think is right or what is wrong, then of course you cannot succeed.
“When we talk about bureaucracy in the service, the idea is to make sure that things are properly done and you minimise errors.
“For example, if you advise Mr President wrongly and he puts his signature on something, the effect of that is critical and that is why before the president should endorse something or a minister should endorse something, that thing must have been properly filtered by responsible officers.”
The president expressed confidence in the capacity of Kifasi and Odunze to deliver on their new assignments and urged them to bring their wealth of experiences to bear on the tasks.
“Incidentally, the two people that took oath of office have to do with management of the Civil Service of the Federation; this is critical.
“For any government to do well the civil service is the fulcrum; it’s the centre of activities and for us to succeed as a nation there must be absolute discipline and proper conduct in the civil service.
“That is why your jobs are quite challenging, but from your antecedents both of you are quite conversant with the operations of the civil service. We believe that you will bring your wealth of experience to bear as you manage the civil service.”
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