It was indeed a great day to remember being the 29th day of January 2023, when a seasoned public officer, consummate technocrat and professional estate surveyor and valuer Esv Godwin ltyoachimin, former Director/HOD, Lands and Housing Development Dept, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing hosted a Thanksgiving Service on his Successful Retirement from the Federal Civil Service at the Grace Hill Hotel and Suites, Mararaba, Nasarawa State.
The Thanksgiving Service was well attended by friends, family, relatives and associates of Esv Godwin ltyoachimin, including members of NKST(URCC), Nyanya, Vandeikya town unions,Tiv cultural troupes and well wishers that cut across all segments of society.
Reflecting on his 35 year sojourn in the federal civil service, a visibly elated Esv ltyoachimin, who is a Registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer and Associate Member of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers thanked all the guests, visitors and family friends that graced the occasion while appreciating the Almighty God for His guidance, protection and blessings all through this while.
The celebrant also had a few words of advice for the younger ones on the secrets to success in life. According to Esv Godwin ltyoachimin: ‘There should be preparedness, which is multi-dimensional; preparedness by way of training, preparedness by way of mindset and preparedness by way of commitment,hard work and resilience. So the youths must have to identify what they want and how to get it right.
The road to success is a long, tortous road, so you must have a lot of patience and anyone that wants to pass through that road must understand that he/she must be patient and prepare himself physically,materially ,spiritually and otherwise in order to get there.
A retrospective Esv ltyoachimin also revealed that he has no regrets for any acts or omissions throughout his public service career: ‘l must tell you that in the 35 years, l worked in the civil service,no particular moment was regretful for me. I never had any regrets, that is not to say there were no challenges,there were challenges but l was prepared for them. I prepared my mind for the long tortous road. The criteria and the kind of character you need to survive in the public service is patience,respect for established authority,rank discipline and all that.l believe l had them all and these qualities saw me through to the end.’
On his future plans after leaving service, the seasoned technocrat was optimistic of a brighter future ahead: ‘Yes, the civil service regulations in the country states that you retire when you attain 35 years of service or 60 years of age, whichever comes first.ln my case l thank God so much that it is the length of service, 35 yrs that came first which means that l am not yet up to 60 yrs of age. I am looking forward to a brighter future ahead,l am looking forward to being able to further contribute to the development of the country, l am looking forward to being able to contribute immensely to the devolopment of this country particularly in the lands, housing, urban development and public infrastructure sectors which l belong to. l am a professional in that regard. I pray to Almighty God that l will be able to further contribute to the growth and development of our nation in those sectors.
In reaction to a question regarding his future political ambitions, Esv ltyoachimin who was a one-time Benue State governorship aspirant set the records straight stating: ‘l want to correct one impression: the Benue people never said l should come another time as the system never exposed me to the people to decide. That much l can say at this point in time’.
Another Benue State governorship aspirant, former PDP national legal adviser and former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Rt Hon David lorhemba also thanked Almighty God for seeing Esv Godwin ltyoachimin all through the years describing the celebrant as a dedicated, committed and hardworking public officer: ‘The most important thing is my relationship with the celebrant,he is my very good friend and contemporary.
‘He graduated from the Command Secondary School, Jos in 1982 while l also graduated from Government College, Makurdi in 1982. From there, he went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka while l attended the University of Jos.
Esv ltyoachimin is a great guy, a very good person. l retired earlier than him to go into active politics and now he has joined us in retirement.
When you retire from the public to the private sector, you now begin to see another dimension to life. Now he can wake up and go out any time he chooses but the important thing is commitment, dedication and hard work. That is the key to success in the private sector and l know he will succeed because he has all these sterling qualities. l know him as someone who is very dedicated, who is very committed to what he sets out to do. So l want to encourage him, he is still young, retiring at this young age. l believe that he will move to greater heights, the sky is his limit. He once aspired to the governorship seat of Benue State and l believe he will aspire to the highest levels possible in future.
I wish Esv Godwin ltyoachimin all the best in his future endeavours’, Rt Hon David lorhemba concluded.
