Rivers Civil Service Week In Retrospect

The civil service is part of the public service, which is the body that is vested with the herculean task of implementing the plans, policies, programmes and projects of the different arms and tiers of government in a society for the good of the people and the society at large.

The civil servants are meant to be neutral, non-partisan, polite, enlightened, kind, selfless, fair, showing no partiality and any form of sentiment in carrying out their assignments. They are expected to show the same amount of zeal, support, loyalty, advice, and co-operation to whichever government they find themselves serving in promotion of the wellbeing of the people and society at heart. Their roles are enormous.

Since the 1994 Conference of African Ministers for Public Civil Services held in Morocco where the decision to observe every 23 June in commemorating the civil service, the Rivers State Civil Service has had five different celebrations, with four of these running consecutively since the Rotimi Amaechi-led administration came on board.

This year’s celebration with the theme “Transformative Leadership in Public Administration and Governance: Creating a Better Life for All,” was shifted to July 17 – 20, 2011, as a mark of respect for the loss of a dedicated colleague, Mr Sonny Ikpah, who died shortly after taking part in the inter-ministerial football competition marking the week, and Pastor Paul Kollie, choirmaster of the civil service choir, who died after a brief illness.

But when the week finally took off, civil servants in the state took time off their very busy and essential services to thank God, socialise, compete in football matches and relay competitions (for female civil servants) to receive awards for meritorious services rendered, even as they listened to seasoned speakers deliver very apt lectures to increase their depth of knowledge.

The entire civil servants in the state, through their massive turnout at the different events of programmes to mark the week, have not only shown solidarity with the Head of Service, Mrs Esther Anucha, and her team, they have also shown their unalloyed faith in her headship of the service in the state.

In an address to mark the 2011 edition of the week, the Head of Service in the state, Mrs Esther Anucha, said the annual celebration affords the people the opportunity to reflect on the progress made in the service since the last celebration, pointing out that the capture and issuance of the bio-metric staff identity cards to all civil and public servants in the employment of the state government have been completed.

Welfare of workers have been boosted, new lifts installed in the secretariat, capacity increased through training and re-training of staff. The conduct of the first set of examination for officers aspiring to the position of permanent secretary by the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), South South Zonal Office, to give a level playing ground to all qualified candidates, operational ICT department for training of civil servants on computer appreciation, and access to regular internet services are some of the achievements for civil servants in the past one year.

Though the 2011 Civil Service Week has come and gone, most of the challenges confronting the service and militating against the efficient service delivery remain unsolved even when successive governments are aware of them.

In a foreword in ‘Rivers State: Landmarks of Leadership (1999 – 2007) a publication of the state government, the former Governor of the state, Sir (Dr) Peter Odili, said that “within the civil service, often termed the engine room of government, the workers’ morale was at its lowest ebb..” Also, the present Governor of the state, Rt. Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, in a preface to ‘Doing Government Business in Rivers State: A Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Civil Servants’ said:

“I am worried by the declining productivity and pervasive phenomenon of corruption in our public service… majority of the operators in the system… have turned the machinery of state into private enterprises for personal and private creation… the public whom government officials are supposed to serve are often deprived of the services for which government exists.

“As the euphoria of the celebration still hangs in the air, all civil servants, especially those in the services of Rivers State in their career which does not just bring bread to their table but also places them strategically to render very valuable and vital social services for the upliftment of the society and the betterment of posterity. The time of ‘no be my papa work’ syndrome should be jettisoned forever.

“Agreed that there are still impediments and challenges to be grappled with to deliver unbiased and qualitative services to the people and the government of the day, if the civil service is to strive to create a better life for the people, then it is no long time for murmuring, carelessness, and disobeying constituted rules, regulations, and authorities. It is unfortunate that despite the sacrifices to better equip the workforce and bring improvement in their welfare packages, there are still many who would not be found dutifully performing their assignments with zeal and unfettered interest. They are among the first set of negative critics for any seeming weakness on the part of government.”

Governor Amaechi also said in that preface that “..the best brains in Nigeria can be found in the public service but majority of them have become incapacitated by greed and avarice which breed incompetence and inefficiency”.

Surprisingly these best brains have ceased or become weakened in giving that professional advice and genuine support neutrally to those saddled with governance. Today, most civil servants, like the Biblical Esau, have or are willing to sell their ‘sacred’ roles, especially those that are at the top cadre to curry one form of favour or gratification to the detriment of posterity and prosperity of the state.

It is worrisome to note that because the civil servants are no longer alive to their responsibilities, some political officers and contractors connive to rob the society. How would one explain a situation where a project may be said to have been executed yet cannot be seen to be so physically? How would anyone interpret the call by the embattled former speaker of the House of Representatives,  Hon Dimeji Bankole, that the clerk of the House should also be prosecuted for the N10 billion loan scam if not either that the clerk did not properly advise the leadership of the house or that there was a compromise? This ought not to be. Civil servants should be alive to their roles. They should always apply their tradition of raising memoirs in giving their candid advice and they must make sure that proper supervision and correct reports are given on public issues without minding whose horse may be gored.

Rivers State Government needs commendation for giving the Head of Service, Mrs Esther Anucha, and the entire civil servants in the state, the wherewithal to annually celebrate the workforce yearly. There are improvements in the celebration. This year, not only that female civil servants were involved in competition (4x50m relay), the list of serving civil servants that won awards was published in the programme of events for the week to encourage others and to motivate the recipients to do more.

Indeed, the annual celebration of the Rivers State Civil Service Week has been a catalyst spurring the workers to give better service delivery even as it continues to call attention of the government to the ideals of the workforce. I hereby suggest the re-introduction of monthly jogging exercise due to its benefits.

Dr Mann Tolofari in his “Rivers Bureaucrat” says, “without the civil service, there will be no system and continuity in public administration. Its importance to a government is obvious. Every civil servant should be loyal and faithful to the government. They should observe the ethics of the service at all times”.

That the civil service in the state has continued to forge ahead and to wax stronger in spite of tractable challenges and difficulties with a pay that is a far cry compared to those earned by workers in the multinationals and oil and gas related organisations that abound in the state, is highly commendable. Indeed, the Rivers State Civil Service Week is a celebration of courage to make government business go forward.

Oruigoni is the Information Officer, Rivers State Liaison Office, Lagos.

Idanye Oruigoni