The Edo State Government has commenced the onboarding of the 219 newly hired workers in the State Public Service.
The event, which commenced on Thursday at the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy and designed to acquaint the newly employed with the rules and regulations guiding the public service, is to last for 10 working days.
Speaking during the onboarding programme, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki said his administration is committed to sustaining the ongoing reforms in the service by populating it with the right manpower and tools to effectively deliver on its role of enhancing development in the State.
“We have to have certain people with a certain mindset who know that every day when they wake up in the morning, they have certain duties and responsibilities to perform for the benefit of the people. That is why it is called Public Service,” Obaseki said.
“Every one of you here was recruited on the basis of his or her performance in the various tests culminating in your being employed because the exercise was strictly based on merit. I as the governor witnessed the process because it is just right and good for the system when we do the objective criteria to bring people into the system,“ he noted.
“You are not being hired to serve yourself, or your family members but the people. The day you deviate from that, that day you have missed the track and that is what has happened to Nigeria,” he further said.
The governor enjoined the newly recruited workers to shun every form of corruption, even as he urged them to work smart to be able to meet the dynamics of the modern day civil service that is technologically driven.
Speaking Earlier in his Welcome Address, the State Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa, hailed the Obaseki-led administration for what he called the unprecedented manner it has grown the public service.
He noted that the recruitment exercise was strictly based on merit in line with the present administration’s resolve to ensure that only the best and qualified candidates are brought into the service.
He told the participants that government has put measures in place to redefine the Civil/Public Service in every aspect and urged them to effectively commit themselves to the job they have been employed to do and thereby contribute their quotas to the ongoing reforms in the civil and public service.
The onboarding process is programmed to take participants through the rudiments of the public service with special focus on the basic principles of the civil/public service, civil service policies and practices, overview of the Edo State Transformation Programe (Edo STEP), Change Management, Financial Instruction, CT productivity tools, etc.
Present also at the onboarding programme were top government functionaries, including the Secretary to the Edo State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq, Commissioner of Health Prof Obehi Akoria, Permanent Secretaries, among others.
