A renowned Human Resource expert, Ozo Anthony Chinwuba Ani, has charged public servants to give their best at their workplace to avoid being classified as members of “redundant group.”
Ani, who is a retired Director of the National Youth Service Corps made the charge during a two-day Career Development Training for middle level officers in the scheme held at Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Speaking as the Chief Executive Officer of ACVEC Management & Consult, the principal partner opined that if all public servants strove continuously to justify their employment status and earned salary through diligence and hard work, the country would have the best performed public service not only in Africa but the world at large.
“With all sincerity of purpose, I want to tell you that Nigeria is the most blessed country under the sun because of her natural endowments and human capital resources but things are not working well because we are not following the empirical rules, regulations and order.”
The management consultant who is a recipient of National Productivity Merit Award admonished the public servants to see their engagement into the Public Service as a privilege and should contribute meaningfully and positively to government operations and not as parasites who are liability and cog in the wheel of progress of national development.
Ani asserted that many public servants were interested in what they stood to gain in their respective offices rather than what they were expected to achieve in line with their job schedules.
He observed with dismay the lack of interest or absence of zeal by public servants in committing themselves to reading.
The one time Director of ICT said it was very unfortunate that many public servants sought wealth and other material things at the expense of knowledge.
“I have a deep respect for one of our past labour leaders in this country because he would always arm himself with requisite knowledge and detailed data and statistics whenever he is going for negotiation, but it is rather unfortunate that many public servants could not marshall points to convince higher authority where a particular project or intervention must be carried out.”
“I am not saying every public servants do not know their onions but what I am reiterating is that we should not stop learning as this will place us in better position and earn us respect if the chips are down,” he said.
The HR expert described the objectives of NYSC as profound legacy of the retired General Yakubu Gowon the best for Nigeria.
Ani said public servants should not confine themselves to particular locations but spread out beyond their enclaves so as to know the differences and similarities between people of different regions.
The two days training covered areas which included An Overview of the Public Service; Entry into the Public Service; Registry; The NYSC Act: A vital Tool for NYSC Operations and Transparency and Accountability in the Public Service opened the eyes of the participants to better and effective ways of handling government business.
The participants which are drawn from the NYSC formations in the Southwest geopolitical zone including the Southwest Area Office appreciated the management of the scheme for engaging an extremely versatile administrator to sharpen the skills of middle level officers for the optimal performance that will invariably change the perception and enhance the image of National Youth Service Corps scheme to the outside world.
