Ekiti State government laments low productivity of civil service

Tinubu’s in-law urges transparent APC congresses in state

The Ekiti State Government has lamented what it described as low productivity of its workforce, blaming it on the obsolete public service rules and poor access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) gadgets.

Head of Service, Mrs. Peju Babafemi, who stated this, yesterday, in Ado-Ekiti, said that the state government had been working hard to reposition the civil service and make it more functional by reviewing its rules and raise the bar of standardisation in doing government’s business.

Babafemi, describing the civil service as the engine room of any government, noted that no government could function effectively while still relying on the old-fashioned rules.

She said the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration would restructure the public service through effective legal framework that could promote welfarism, innovations, compliance to rules and others.

Giving an overview of the revised rules, the Permanent Secretary, Office of Establishment and Service Matters, Mr. Bayo Opeyemi, said some of the reviewed provisions were targeted at fostering discipline and quick response to issues that could affect governance positively.

Also, Chairman, Ekiti State Civil Service Commission, Mr. Olubunmo Famosaya, suggested that the review should focus on ICT, paternity leave and life insurance for all workers, saying this is the best way to make it holistic.

IN another development, a former lawmaker in Ekiti State, Oyetunde Ojo, has urged Chairman, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mai Mala-Buni, to ensure that all anti-democratic manipulations that could lead to imposition in the coming party congresses in Ekiti State are prevented.

In a statement, yesterday, Ojo, who is also an in-law to the National Leader of APC, Bola Tinubu, alleged that Governor Kayode Fayemi is making some undercurrent sharp practices ahead of the congresses to foist his choice candidates.

He alleged that the governor had begun the process of compiling names of his preferred officials from ward to state levels in an attempt to impose and frustrate the congresses.

Ojo, who also alleged that the government had also directed that all ward meetings and such other party gatherings be stopped forthwith to block all dissents from raising objections so that he could coast home with the names of his loyalists for the congresses, described Fayemi’s action as undemocratic and a wrong step, which according to him, was part of what took the party into the deep ocean of litigations that later birthed the current caretaker regime in the APC.

IN his reaction, the Publicity Secretary of APC in Ekiti State, Ade Ajayi, dismissed Ojo’s allegation as spurious and irresponsible.

He said: “Ojo cannot stay outside and be criticising the party, otherwise, let him return home and do his criticism. He is on suspension. And moreover, Fayemi has constituted a committee to ensure free, fair and credible congresses.” He, therefore, urged the Buni caretaker-led committee to disregard Ojo’s allegation.