April 14, 2015 – Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola today said that the support of civil servants is very key to the success of the Governor-elect, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.
Fashola who was appreciating civil servants for voting Ambode said their cooperation is very key if the incoming administration is to consolidate on the achievements of the state government in the last 16 years.
Fashola said the civil servants have showed over the years demonstrated to government that they are selflessness and committed to their duties.
“Very few believed that government could work again but those who held that belief didn’t reckon with you. They didn’t reckon with your undying spirit, selflessness. They didn’t reckon with your determination and ‘can do’ spirit. But today, not only have you proven that government can and will work, but you have also proven that the civil service is really the driver of development in any part of the world”, he said.
He said that elsewhere the civil service continues to function effectively in the period of election.
“That says a lot about the role you have to play . The essential content of your training is political neutrality. As individual, we expect that you will have choices. We expect that you will vote. Indeed, democracy is about choice. If there is no electricity as a civil servant, you are not insulated from the failure of electricity, you buy generators. So, we expect that you have choices. So, I thank all of you for choosing APC, for choosing Ambode and for choosing to keep the model that we have developed.
“But apart from coming to say thank you, I also want to appeal to you not to lose what we have achieved. I have said this and I will continue to reinforce it because if we lose it, we will have to do it again. We have become a flagship government in Nigeria but you know getting to the stop is easier than staying at the top. The top is where everybody wants to be and so you will have competition.”
On his part, Ambode promised better welfare for the civil servants, saying that he would take service delivery to the next level, having spent 27 years in the state service.
“You have made history for Lagos. For us by joining hands together to make history for Lagos State and Nigeria. That is what the stories are all about. It was in 1956 that the Lagos government converge with the national government as a progressive government.
“Civil service is the best noble service that I have known and that is the way we are going to keep it. So, what I’m saying is that the best is yet to come. There is nothing we can do that to appreciate your support in the last 16 years. In 1999, we knew what we were, in 2007 we knew what step that we climbed. Eight years after, we knew what it is and what the story is. I’ve been part of the story and I know that in the next four years we all need to come together and consolidate on the achievements of the last 16 years.”
