The federal government has warned that the country’s public service should not be a dumping ground but an engine room that drives the nation.
Secretary to the Government of He Federation, Boss Mustapha, said his Thursday in Abuja at the launching of a book titled “On Merit” written by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Mrs Georgina Ehuriah-Arisa.
Boss Mustapha assured that the current administration will continue to d its best to see that public service become the best.
Boss Mustapha said: “The public service should not be a dumping ground. It supposed to be the engine room that drives the nation, and the public service is a reflection of what a nation will become and what it is.”
The SGF described the author as a resilent, resourceful and brilliant Nigerian woman.
The SGF said the author’s experiences in public service will be a great asset even as a consultant to government institutions.
In his speech, Minister of Interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said the author of the book, Dame Ehuriah, “is in a class of her own. She is the quintessential civil servant – loyal, diligent, firm, efficient, effective, knowledgeable and hark working.”
In the the speech titled “Eulogy to an Amazon,” Aregbesola said the Permanent Secretary has proven to be an excellent civil servant.
“Her capacity for work and diligence are extra-ordinary. Having worked across several federal establishments, she capped her career with the appointment as Permanent Secretary. Because she distinguished herself, she was at the Presidency, the pinnacle of government, where nothing but the best is good enough. I therefore consider it a privilege to have worked with her – one of the best the service ever produced.
“She is also a good person. A human-being to the core. She is courteous, reserved, graceful and dignified.
“I must also be quick to add that though the civil service is basically the same, each system I have interacted with has peculiarities that distinguish it from the others. So, I can say that the challenges in Lagos are different from Osun while the challenges at the federal level are different from the states.But with her support, I have been able to slide seamlessly from the state service to the federal service with little or no hitch.
“She has commendably blessed us with her autobiography. One of the benefits of reading is that the reader acquires the wisdom it takes the author, in our case, 35 years, to garner, in the length of time it takes to read the book. Her book therefore is 35 years compressed into a few pages. No wonder Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that ‘There is properly no history, only biography’. If you avail yourself of reading the biographies of the great people of history, you already have history in your hands.
“Her book is therefore a treasure trove of the experience and wisdom of her meritorious service. It should be a compulsory read for students and teachers of public administration and civil servants. Beyond that, as I have always advocated, someone with her experience should have a place as a faculty in any top university and civil service training academy, teaching public administration and shaping the intellect of those who will mind public service at all levels in the country.”
In her speech, head of the Civil Service Folashade Essan, described the author as one of the finest Civil servants the country has produced.
She said the book will serve as one of the resources and guide for civil servants, especially female ones.
The book “On Merit” is meant to help boost the morale of the Federal Public Servants, not only to improve productivity and service delivery to Nigerians but to encourage them to always strive for their career progression, strictly on merit.
Ehuriah-Arisa said she wrote the book as a way of giving back to a system which she said had given her the privilege to serve and get rewarded accordingly.
