Abuja — Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mahmud Yayale Ahmed has urged civil servants in the country to resist corruption and intensify war on graft in the interest of national development.

Yayale said this when he received the leadership of the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) in his office in Abuja where he added that "the service is blessed with courageous and patriotic professionals who can be the bulwark in the war against corruption." He noted that as the civil service and the private sector come into close contact in service delivery, "civil servants should be creative in resisting and fighting corruption" stressing that it was wrong to label civil servants as corrupt because as former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, he knew that most civil servants are upright and patriotic.

Earlier, President of NCSU Comrade Mohammed Shua'ibu Kiri pledged the readiness of the union to collaborate with the government through the SGF to ensure industrial peace in Nigeria's public service.

He urged the SGF to support the "training and retraining of civil servants to match up with the present trend in information technology and communication to further enhance their productivity."