BEVERLY HILLS, March 01, (THEWILL) – The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has declared that the greatest tragedy a nation can experience is a situation where privileged civil servants subvert the system for personal gains at the expense of the poor.
He stressed that a nation is faced with a monumental tragedy when civil servants used the opportunity of the position they occupy for self enrichment.
Osinbajo stated this on Tuesday at the inaugural Quarterly Civil Service Lecture Series with the theme, “Civil Service in a Change Environment: The Change is Now”, held at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
While informing the civil servants that they were sometimes being referred to as “evil servants”, he admonished them to take heart, saying the best professions were usually the most criticised.
According to him, “The power to do good or evil lies with a few people who form what we refer to as our civil service.
“When some of such elite see the opportunity as one for self enrichment by corrupt practices, then the nation faces a monumental tragedy.
“There is no excuse anywhere in a nation where the majority are still poor and are struggling to make a living that anyone who has the benefit of good education and good fortune of a job in the civil service should subvert that service for personal gains.
“I think it is the greatest tragedy that a nation can experience.”
The Acting President continued, “Despite the criticisms that civil servants are subjected to, I am sure that you know that sometimes civil servants are described as evil servants, but you must take heart, the best profession are usually the most criticised.
“But I must say that the wholesome privilege of public service is very easily abused or taken for granted.
“The public service elite represent, as we have seen, the most important factor in mass development,” he added.
He regretted that the system, which had firmly stood against injustices and high-handedness that characterised the military era, when leadership was mainly by promulgation of decrees, suddenly came crashing when civil servants began to see their functions as means to achieve personal aggrandisement, rather than the common good of Nigeria.
Osinbajo noted that more often than not, civil servants used their positions to further their personal gains and left the masses impoverished.
In her lecture, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, said the time had come for Nigerians to stop lamenting over the foregone glorious days of the civil service.
She said the service was possibly a victim of the overall malaise bedeviling the entire Nigerian society.
Oyo-Ita blamed the inability to clearly articulate its vision as being responsible for the decline of the service.
