Samuel Oyadongha
20 June 2008
Bayelsa — THE Secretary to Bayelsa State Government (SSG), Mr. Gideon Ekeuwei yesterday lamented the inherent rot in the state civil service with particular emphasis on the Local Government Administration saying civil servants in the predominantly riverine state are more corrupt than political appointees.
Speaking at the 2008 Nigeria Civil Service Day, Ekeuwei who challenged the civil servants to come out with any document indicting him as a political office holder said the civil servants in the state should be held responsible for the high level of fraud in the system.
The state scribe noted that the civil servants, having stayed long in the system are the one putting the politicians through in perpetrating fraud adding "the civil servants would tutored you on how to defraud and the way to cover up the fraud after being perpetrated."
On the local government administration in the state, he described it as the most bastardized lamenting what he described as the hi-tech level of fraud being perpetrated in the various councils in the state.
According to him, there is no budget preparation, talk less of its implementation. "Projects are being implemented without recourse to budgetary policy, and this is one of the factors responsible for the under development at the third tier of government," he said
Adding "Whenever a chairman is removed either through impeachment process or any other means, through the provision of the constitution, the mantle of leadership falls on the Director of Personnel.
However, within this period, experience has shown that the affected personnel could not give account of the spending of the council within the period.
This invariably shows that there is no accountability." Proffering solution, the SSG stressed the need for re-orientation as well as the introduction of the code of ethics in the state civil service just as he called on the people to do away with the habit of get rich quick syndrome.
Ekeowe added that some groups of people in the state, in their bid to ride exotic cars are ready to involve themselves in criminal act, saying, "they kidnap our wives and demand huge ransom that would be enough for them to by Jeeps." In his paper entitled.
"The Public Service: From Policy To Results Based Implementation," Dr. Ibaba S. Ibaba called for the introduction of code of ethics in the state civil service, stressing that this would assist in checking the level of fraud among public office holders.
Ibaba said it would serve as check and balance, while its success would also depend on ethical obligation training, enforcement of ethical code and the conduct of ethical audit to evaluate policies and administrative actions.
He therefore warned political office holders against usurping the function of the civil servants, adding that it is one of the factors responsible for non implementation of various policies formulated by successive administrations not only in the Country but the entire Country as a whole.
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