Nigeria Content Online

President Goodluck
Jonathan will pay unscheduled visits to ministries, departments and
agencies to ascertain the level of commitment to work and the
punctuality of government officials.

Speaking shortly
after swearing-in three new Permanent Secretaries at State House
yesterday, Mr Jonathan said the Administration will no longer tolerate
absenteeism or lateness to work.

“You must have the
courage to query your errant subordinates, who do not conform to laid
down procedures or disobey the rules, so that we can have a disciplined
service”, he said. The three new Permanent Secretaries are Tunji
Olaopa, Atiku Abubakar Kigo and R. S. Jimeta.

He charged the new permanent secretaries to work hand in hand with the ministers in charge of their ministries and other staff.

“Because Nigerians
must continue to see themselves as one, we should not discriminate
against ourselves if we want to get to where we want to reach,” Mr
Jonathan said. “Do your work without bias, without sentiments. Be loyal
and show high degree of commitment to the development of this country.

“I expect you to
cooperate with your ministers because the greatest worries we have is
the problem of relationship between permanent secretaries and
ministers, ministers being political appointees but even these days the
permanent secretaries with the eight year tenure in service are semi
political appointees. We expect cooperation between ministers and
permanent secretaries that is the only way we can move forward because
without cooperation, government projects are always stalled. I will
charge you to cooperate with your ministers and work well with your
directors and other staff.”

Punish the loafers

The president noted
that one of greatest problems noticed in the civil service is the
inability of the leadership to restrain the followership.

“Sometimes the followership, for political reasons, display one attitude or the other. Please,

within this period
that I am here, there is no sacred cow. Anybody under you that is not
doing what he is suppose to do, you must take administrative measures
to correct it, that is the only way we can instil discipline in the
civil service,” he said.

Condemning the
culture of impunity where people come to work whenever they like and
decide to go on break without due process, the president said this
should no longer be tolerated.

“In this new year, I may be visiting some ministries without notice
because a situation where I’m told some people go to work by 9 a.m. and
by Thursday they have left, if they are not ready to work then they
should resign and allow others,” Mr Jonathan said. “We have so many
unemployed Nigerians who are ready to work. So, those who are too big
to work in the civil service should go to the private sector and make
the billions they want to make.”