By Felix Khanoba
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, has called on civil servants to have a change of attitude in the discharge of their duties to ensure the anti-corruption fight of the present administration gets the desired impact.
Echono gave the charge recently in Abuja at a workshop on “Understanding Emerging Trends in Corruption at the Workplace,” where he bemoaned the culture of lateness to work, absence from work without permission, fraud, closing before time and other acts of misconduct by civil servants.
A statement made available to The AUTHORITY by Ben Bem Goong, deputy director in charge of public relations in the ministry, said Echono described such acts as detrimental to the development drive of the present administration.
Represented by Mrs. Grace Ekanem, Director, Legal Department, Echono called on participants to take the information shared seriously as the workshop is intended at “identifying institutional vulnerabilities and corruption triggers that frustrate service effectiveness and efficiency”.
The Perm Sec enjoined staff not to engage in corrupt practices as they serve as stumbling blocks to the dream of the present administration of having a ‘re-engineered, re-invigorated, refocused and integrity – driven civil service’.
In his remarks, the acting Director, Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department, Mr. Ogunkunle Adesoji, said that as strategic drivers in national development, staff of the Ministry are expected to raise the template of excellent service delivery, transparency and integrity.
Adesoji added that an understanding of the different manifestations of corruption in the workplace is vital in order for management to effectively fight it through the evolvement and implementation of the right policies and measures.
