Obasanjo asks civil servants opposed to reforms to quit
PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo has asked civil servants opposed to the Federal Government's on-going reforms to quit the service.
Addressing federal permanent secretaries at the weekend at the end of a four-day retreat in Badagry, Lagos State, Obasanjo said the reforms are inevitable if the country is to move forward.
He added that there is no going back on the government's plan to carry out wide-ranging reforms in the public sector, particularly to the world standard.
The President said the country could still boast of some of the best, dedicated, patriotic and hard-working civil servants in the world.
He, however, said it was regrettable that values had been contaminated and compromised along the way.
Obasanjo said he has "unshaken faith in the intrinsic qualities of the civil service to provide stability, continuity and a veritable resource base for competence and experience".
He, however, said: "I am convinced more than ever before that the civil service needs an urgent and decisive change of attitude, orientation and ways of service delivery".
He acknowledged complaints of intolerable levels of indifference, incompetence and suspected instances of sabotage by ministers and chief executive officers of parastatals and establishments against some permanent secretaries, saying: "This must change".
Obasanjo added: "In several ways, permanent secretaries are responsible for, or directly or indirectly implicated in precipitating the distortions, misplaced priorities, waste, corruption, lackadaisical work culture, indolence and poor service delivery that have come to characterise the public service today.
"This is why the reform of the public sector, particularly the civil service is inevitable".
The President described the retreat organised by the permanent secretaries as a "welcome admission that reform is both imperative and urgent. It is vital".
He said there were some basic assumptions in the civil service that required appraisal and listed them to include "the mere history of its survival and the concept of neutrality from competing with political tendencies and forces".
Those, he said, must not be allowed to become a cover for indifference and a weapon for resisting change.
