Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has said his administration has instituted several policies to transform the public service to ensure it delivers effective and efficient service to the people of Edo State.

Lifestyle Nigeria reports that Obaseki stated this at the commissioning of the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA) in the state’s capital, Benin City.

JOOPSA was established in honour of the former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, who recently marked his 84 birthday anniversary.

The Governor expressed his appreciation to all the guests at the event said and stated that the academy is an institution built to transform public and civil service delivery and bridge the knowledge gap of our public servants.

“The ability of a government to execute its policies is largely dependent on the quality and ability of its public servants. That is why from the beginning of our Administration, the transformation of the public service of our State has been given priority.

“It is clear in my mind that it will be impossible to deliver on the mandate of our Administration without a strong and effective Public and Civil Service. Unfortunately, the public service we met was very weak in several areas. Its processes and procedures have become blurred because they were manual and therefore the civil service was sluggish and prone to corruption and environmentally hazardous; offices were without proper toilet facilities.”

Obaseki further disclosed that, “The welfare of workers was terrible and I wondered why the civil servants themselves allowed their situation to deteriorate to such an extent. Nothing like performance Management; nothing was done strategically, and criteria for promotion was never merit-based. You must belong to society to be considered, and training and human capacity development was relegated.

“It was now important to change the narrative if we are to succeed to reposition Edo for sustainable, socio economic growth.”