Jonathan Worries Over Indiscipline in Civil Service

Posted by admin Latest Politics Saturday, September 10th, 2011

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has expressed worry over what he described as lack of discipline among federal civil servants.

He hinted at the possibility of initiating surprise visits to ministries, as a way of whipping the workers back to line for the smooth operation of government business.

The president spoke, on Friday, in Abuja, while swearing in two new permanent secretaries, Mrs. Kehinde Folashade Anjoni and Engineer Nabolisa O. Emordi.

Jonathan observed that rather than comply with official resumption and closing time, a number of workers get to work and leave whenever they choose.

“In fact, before my inauguration, I wanted to pay surprise visits to ministries, but it was not a very good period, so, I stopped. Probably, I will do something like that this time around,” he stated.

According to the president, normal civil servants must adhere to official work hours of between 8.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m., and “if, for any reason, an officer would leave office earlier than 4.00 p.m. or resume later than 8.00 a.m., the permanent secretary or the director in charge of that directorate must be informed.”

He, therefore, charged permanent secretaries to ensure the return of discipline in the civil service since they are well placed to discipline erring workers.

“We must make sure that we bring back discipline into the service. In those days, they called it bureaucracy because things were not done anyhow.

“So, we will begin to see how we can manage an efficient, productive civil service that will lead to the transformation of our dear country,” he stated

-Tribunewp_posts