… Says there is no backing by any Govt Circular
Arising from claims that the Supreme Court has approved partisan politics for Civil Servants, the Akwa Ibom State Head of Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien, has put up strong defense, saying that there is yet no government circular to back-up such ruling.
The Head of Civil Service made this known Friday, at Ibom LED, E-Library, Uyo, during the training of Permanent Secretaries in the State by the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, (ASCON), Topo, Badagary, on ,’Leadership and Good Governance’.
Elder Effiong Essien who was making contributions on the last day of the training, during a Lecture by a rtd Faculty member of ASCON, Pastor A.O. Ikohun, on ‘Overview of the Public Service Rule’, emphasized that, the basis of conduct of Civil Servants are government Circulars and the Public Service Rules, stressing that so far, there is no Circular to back-up the Supreme Court judgement on partisanship of the Service.
He affirmed that without any Circular or review of that section in the Public Service Rule by Government the status quo remains which is “No partisan politics for Civil servants.
Elder Essien urged Permanent Secretaries and indeed all Civil servants to abide by the conduct stipulated by the Public Service Rule, and shun partisan politics and all other conducts that are Inimical to their Civil Service career.
The Head of Civil Service used the occasion to express appreciation to the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno for approving the training for Permanent Secretaries and also thanked ASCON for relocating its Faculty members to Akwa Ibom State for the weeklong training.
He expressed satisfaction with the calibre of Resource Persons and Lectures lined-up in the training manual and charged the Permanent Secretaries to internalise the lessons learnt for impartation to their staff and in the general day-to-day running of government business in their different MDAs.
In a vote of thanks, the Dean, College of Permanent Secretaries, Mrs Stella Etukakpan, expressed deep appreciation to the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno for approving the training exercise for Permanent Secretaries, the Head of Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien, for coordinating the training, ASCON for the impactful lectures and Permanent Secretaries for taking the training very seriously.
Among the lectures presented during the weeklong training included: Good Governance and Public Policy; Ethics, Accountability and Transparency for Good Governance; Public Procurement Management; Managing Labour Relations and Executive Time and Stress Management.
Others included: Service delivery and the Role of Top Management; Transformational Leadership; Overview of Financial Institutions and Financial Management; Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making; Planning for Retirement as well as An overview of the ARISE Agenda: Issues and Challenges.
Highlights of the training session were: presentation of certificate of attendance to participants by the Head of Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien as well as presentation of mementoes to Governor Umo Eno for his positive disposition to human capacity development and the Head of Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien, for facilitating the training effectively, by ASCON.
