Jonathan to new HoS: I won’t condone misconduct

President Goodluck Jonathan has charged the new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr Danladi Kifasi, to discharge his responsibilities properly. Jonathan gave the charge inside the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja tody after swearing in the new head of service. The president also swore in Mr Chima Odunze as a […]

President Goodluck Jonathan has charged the new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr Danladi Kifasi, to discharge his responsibilities properly.

Jonathan gave the charge inside the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja tody after swearing in the new head of service.

The president also swore in Mr Chima Odunze as a commissioner of the Federal Civil Service Commission representing Abia and Imo States.

Jonathan, who said a number of civil servants jettisoned standard practices and handled official duties as personal affairs, lamented that there was a high level of impunity and misconduct in the system.

According to him, despite the series of reforms carried out from the days of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to date, there are still aberrations in the civil service.

Jonathan maintained that for the country to succeed, there must be absolute discipline and total conduct in the civil service.

He also stressed that responsible public officials must do things properly before advising him or seeking his endorsement for anything.

Jonathan said he had worked with four heads of service who, he noted, did wonderfully well; expressing optimism that Kifasi would improve on their achievements.

The president said: “The two people here to be sworn in have to do with the management of the civil service. It’s critical. For any government to do well, the civil service is at the forefront and for us to succeed as a nation, there must be absolute discipline and total conduct in the civil service. That’s why your job is quite challenging. But from your antecedents, both of you’re quite conversant with the operations of the civil service. We believe you’ll bring your wealth of experience to bear as you manage the civil service.

“People must handle government affairs like government affairs, not personal. My observation, from the little period I’ve been in government, is that a number of people do things based on their own thinking, not on standard practices. There must be standard practices and your own experience will add to that to make you succeed. But when people keep away from standard practices and decide to do what they think is right, you can’t succeed. When we talk about bureaucracy in the civil service, the idea is to ensure things are properly done and to minimize errors.

“For example, if you advise Mr President wrongly and he puts his signature on something, the effect of that is critical and that’s why before the president or the minister should endorse something, that thing must have been properly vetted by the responsible officials. But over the period, people decide to do things wrongly. There is high level of impunity and misconduct. We charge you as you are coming in to handle these responsibilities to make sure there is a continuous process of the reforms in the civil service. We started talking about reforms from the days of Obasanjo to date, we still notice certain aberrations, and we believe that as the new head of the civil service of the federation, you’ll make sure things are done properly”.