“Inject new blood into service”, Aregbesola charges new Osun HoS

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, on Wednesday, charged the newly sworn-in Head of Service‎ (HoS), Dr Festus Olowogboyega Oyebade to inject new blood into the civil service so as to enhance productivity.

He made the call in his speech during the swearing-in ceremony of Oyebade, at the Multi-purpose Hall of the Local Government Service Commission State Secretariat, Osogbo.

The swearing-in ceremony came on the heels of the retirement of the immediate past HOS, Elder Sunday Owoeye, who voluntarily retired on Monday‎.

Aregbesola, who gave Oyebade a marching order, which would span three months harmonise the civil service in such a way that employees of the state could have capacity to work anywhere and in any office within the state affirmed that “the era of partitioning of departments in civil service is gone and should be replaced with organic network and fluid movement ‎from one office to the other, from one department to the other, from one ministry to the other.”

According to him, “the harmonisation order will encourage any employee of the state to work in any of the state’s establishments, regardless of the criteria he or she entered the service with. The fluidity of movement would also expand the office space in such a way that any worker, either in the local government or state, can easily be moved round to any ministry, department or agency without any hindrance to his ability to work.”

Aregbesola said: “Oyebade’s biggest task in repositioning the service will be changing perception on the role and responsibilities of the workers in government. This is because of our experience, given the challenges we faced recently, suggests that this understanding is lacking, particularly in the larger society.”

“Workers, by this I mean all categories of employees, including active workers, passive workers, and the political appointees, primarily are the instruments for delivering on governance and not the objects of governance. The government exists to serve the entire people of the state, although this will include the workers also since they are residents and taxpayers, workers are the instruments of service. The government, therefore, must not be reduced to the exclusive preserve of workers.”

“However, for workers to perform at the optimum, they must be well taken care of – their salaries and emoluments paid as and when due, baring force majeure, they must be well trained and retrained and they must be provided with the tools, materials, and instruments needed to perform their jobs well.

“Nevertheless, the ultimate goal is to be productive; the objectives of governance must be realised and the government machinery must be able to generate the resources needed to run it.”

In his response, Oyebade expressed profound gratitude to Aregbesola for counting him worthy of such coveted position, promising to discharge his duties faithfully so as to complement the efforts of the state and to be benefit of all and sundry.