December 09, (THEWILL) – Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has expressed dissatisfaction with the level of productivity of its civil service, saying it is below average when compared to the performance of employees in the private sector.
Governor Diri stated this on Thursday, at the send-off ceremony, organised for the outgoing Chairman and Commissioners of the sixth State Civil Service Commission in Yenagoa.
The Governor, who spoke through his Deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, described the level of lethargy and docility in the state civil service as unacceptable.
To this end, he said the government would take decisive steps to address the situation where most civil servants, either remain idle in their offices or use official work hours to attend to their private affairs.
The Bayelsa Chief Executive, however, commended the sixth state civil service commission for its doggedness in implementing some of the policies of government successfully, and urged the incoming leadership of the Commission to design a better work evaluation scheme to enhance workers’ productivity.
On its part, he said his administration would continue to prioritise the welfare of workers to boost their motivation through sustainable incentives including the introduction of an annual award for best performing civil servants in the various ministries, departments and agencies.
His words: “More often than not, people want to pass through a process without the process passing through them. We have people who believe that the office they occupy is for the perquisites of the office only, and not for the work of the office.
“If you like the cloak, you must also like the monastery. The attitude of most of our civil servants is still below average by my own assessment. I’ve worked as a civil servant before. I’ve also worked closely with civil servants as a Commissioner.
“The lethargy, docility and I-don’t-care attitude in our civil service must change for it to be productive. We are still some miles behind in terms of what we expect from the civil service.
“Files are still not moving the way we want them to move. So the next civil service commission should be able to design what is called performance indicator to enhance productivity so that those we speak with elsewhere should not take our civil service as anything goes.”
In his remarks, the outgoing Chairman of Bayelsa State Civil Service Commission, Dr Peter Singabele, expressed gratitude to the Governor and his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, for giving the sixth commission everything necessary to carry out its mandate.
Dr Singabele also thanked the permanent secretary and other staff of the commission for organising the send-off ceremony in their honour.
Earlier in an address, the Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, Dr Asiam Blessing Ikuru, remarked that the sixth commission had the rare honour of completing their statutory term of five years in office.
Dr Asiam noted that the outgoing chairman and commissioners had been outstanding in terms of efficiency and credibility in the conduct staff promotion and other statutory responsibilities, and wished them well in their future endeavours.
Highpoint of the ceremony was the presentation of special awards of excellence on Governor Douye Diri, his deputy, Senator Ewhrudjakpo, the outgoing Chairman and Commissioners of the state Civil Service Commission.
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