Governor Ajimobi, beware of quack consultants

Governor Abiola Ajimobi

FOR almost two decades, the civil service in Oyo state has been enmeshed in deep controversies over alleged use of non-possession of additional certificates to stay on the job, not the least is age falsification. The civil service rules that had served as a catalyst of a once virile civil service are rarely enforced. This trend is a cause for worry. Therefore, if the present administration in Oyo state is poised to sanitize the system for effective and efficient service delivery, it should be welcomed by all.

However, in any organization (civil service inclusive), rules serve to regularize personnel conduct, dictate proper direction the business should head and provide sanction in the event of a given misconduct. Where rules are thrown overboard, human conduct become a whim; as I want it, not as it should be. Even in the course of engaging consultants to render service for government, it should be within the ambit of the extant rules and regulations of the civil service and not the whims and caprices of such consultants.

The recent advice by consultants that some state workers be sacked on false allegation of certificate forgery is not only embarrassing to the victim of such decision but also damaging to the state acknowledged first in virtually all fields of human endeavours.

The practice smacks of bad manner on the part of consultants and failure to find facts even if buried under some tricky illusion before jumping into conclusion is bogus, spurious and overbearing.

It is on record that many of these schools that the consultants claimed to have visited which informed their reports on the workers’ alleged fake certificates were never visited. Many of these schools have even threatened court action for libel, nothing could be so embarrassing! It shames me when I learnt that these baseless sack letters emanated from the corridor of power without proper investigation.

Out of sheer insensitivity, the consultants got the better of hundreds of innocent poor workers; hit them where it hurts and left them hungry and in despair after receiving the sack letters. Many have not been reinstated let alone received any salary after about three to twelve months of grappling with the problem of dismissal for an offence not committed but rooted in an unguided judgment of the consultants.

The only thing to do to assuage the nagging pains of these helpless workers is to reinstate them forthwith with their salaries fully paid and a letter of apology written to all concerned. It is the moral thing for the state to do on behalf of these quacks called consultants. God save the pacesetter state.