By Greatness Moses
President Bola Tinubu has beseeched Nigerian public servants to live up to the citizen’s expectations of trust where they must all be accountable to the people.
This was said as the president, on Saturday bestowed awards of excellence to 44 public servants, including former head of state General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd) who distinguished themselves while serving the nation.
The former head of state clinched the Nigeria Excellence Awards in public service (NEAPS) award for peace building.Others are senate president God’s will Akpabio (parliamentary Excellence Award), speaker of the house of representative Hon. Tajudeen Abbas (parliamentary excellence award), chief of staff to the president Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila ( leadership and administration award) and deputy chief of staff to the president senator Ibrahim Hadejia ( administrator par excellence award).
Governors who were recognized for intervention in specific sectors in their respective state’s Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa, Abdullahi sule of Nasarawa, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara and Peter Ndubuisi Mubah of Enugu.Other’s include FCT minister Nyesom Wike (Federal infrastructure delivery award ), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Mr Olayemi Cardoso (monetary policy reforms award) CEO of Dangote Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote (industrial revolution award) Former SGF Boss Mustapha ( life time achievement award) and founder also chairman of zenith bank Chief Jim Ovia (life time achievement in banking award) among others.
Tinubu however, expressed his despair that some loop holes are still being exploited by those who saddled with the nation’s trust despite the institutional measures put in place to prevent any form of irregularities in the public service.
Represented by vice president Kashim Shettima at the event delivered the president’s speech titled, “Honouring the heart beats of public service”.Shettima stated, ” more than ever, our public service must live up to it’s expectation as a public trust where every official must account to the people and ours is to create an ecosystem where they not only stand out but stand apart from those who sabotage us.
“Even though we have set in place institutional measures to forestall any form of dysfunction in our public service and there are still crack often exploited by those given the trust of the nation.
But, we must never get tired of reminding ourselves that our public institution are not personal enterprise as each of us is an employee of the Nigerian citizen”.President Tinubu expressed his administrative support towards a private sector initiative in partnership with the office of the secretary to the Government of the federation (SGF), saying it is strategic to inspire the bulk of the nation’s workforce, “set bench marks and create a ripple effect of positive change throughout our society”.
According to him “reward and recognition are the very marker of every thriving nation and the essence of any successful entity, whether a private enterprise or public institution lies in it’s ability to honour those who work to uphold it’s values and drive it’s progress.
“Our labour force remains the ultimate reflection of our principles as practiced by men and women who rise everyday with a commitment to building a better future for all citizens”The president also showered praises on Nigerian public servants, maintaining that their place must be remembered in order to motivate them to inspire others”.
He further said, NEAPS also played a crucial role in introducing”more role models to a nation in search of mentors and to tell awardees that we see them and the excellence with which they have served the nation.