Emmanuel Thomas
June 23, 2015 – Former Minister of Solid Minerals, Mines and Steels, Dr Oby Ezekwesili has attributed the bane of Nigeria to absence of meritocracy in the selection and appointment of public servants.
The former minister who was speaking at the 2015 Public Serviced Day in Lagos where 551 people bagged various awards, called on leaders to make use of the best brains to lead and run the public service.
According to her, most good coaches in the game of football make use of their first 11 to get good result but that what is found across the states now are a third 11-man squad who are employed and appointed as heads of public service.
She advised President Muhammadu Buhari and other state governors to appoint public servants based on character, competence and capacity, to overcome national challenges.
“Every public service in any nation will do well on the bases of the competency, capacity and character of the people that are assembled to solve the problem. So if we want to compete with other great nations, we must solve our problem with the best civil servants we can find,” she said.
She said that challenges confronting Nigeria would be a thing of the past if only the public servants at both federal and state services are upright and ready to deliver service as professionally as possible.
She added that over 100 million Nigerians are estimated to be unemployed or underemployed, adding that these individuals have no business with poverty, if indeed the nation’s public servants could emulate their counterparts in other developed countries and play the roles expected of them.
According to her, Singapore and China governments were able to get out of economic hardship because they were able to get only competent individuals into the civil service to render public service, adding that today, Singapore could boast of $50,000 GDP while Nigeria could only boast of $2,300 GDP after almost 50 years of oil exploration.
“It is efficient and effective public service that grows the GDP of a given country.
There are 2 level of leadership in governance: The Political level of leadership and the public service. While political level is subject to variability, the political leadership is responsible for envisioning what governance will produce. So, in the governance process, you ‘ve got the vision.
“The public service is the brain of governance, while the political leadership may have low standard of education but in the public service, you have the standard below which you will not be employed or qualified to be in the service,” she added
The former minister who was speaking on “The role of Public Service in Women Empowerment Innovation and Accessible Service Delivery”, said women in public service must epitomize what it takes to solve problems in the society.
