BY KOLA ODEPEJU
To say that the glory of the once vibrant and productive Nigerian civil service has over the years diminished, if not completely gone down, is a correct and indisputable assertion. From federal to state down to the local level the civil service is no longer robust and productive as obtained in the past. Gone are those days when civil servants took their work very serious and exhibited great dedication to duties. Unfortunately things started changing gradually until it became worse in the recent years – till date.
To the discerning minds there is no any other reason responsible for this change in narrative other than lack of motivation for workers. In the recent times the Nigerian workers have had to face the worst working conditions in their working history as they were owed up to one, two years salaries; an unprecedented happening in the history of the Nigerian civil service. The situation was so horrible to the extent that hunger sent some workers to their early graves due to non-payment of salaries. This ugly situation prompted President Muhammadu Buhari, on assumption of office in 2015, to give bail-outs to state governments that owed workers to settle salary arrears. Unfortunately, some state governors still diverted the bail-outs to other projects; a situation that demoralized workers the more and deepened ‘I don’t care attitude to work’ on their parts.
Very important to mention it that whether at public or private sector level, workers need incentives to make them more dedicated and more productive. Provision of incentives to workers/employees make them happy and happiness on the parts of workers leads to higher productivity. A school of thought has for long observed that there’s no happiness that’s greater than making people happy.
But not only that workers are happy when they are given incentives regularly, it also gives a sense of fulfilment on the part of the giver. So there’s a kind of mutual happiness on both sides.
This is why leaders and employers of labour must not play with the culture of giving incentives to workers on regular basis as it benefits both sides; thereby leading to overall development for the polity.
“Most Nigerians are very hard-working and law abiding. But the right leadership that will give us encouragement by way of motivation is what’s lacking. Governor Oyetola has therefore shown the path to follow
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It’s against the above background that one cannot but give kudos to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the state of Osun for the unprecedented development that happened in the state under his leadership on the 4th of January, 2022. Governor Oyetola had on the first working day in 2022 did the unprecedented by rolling out incentives to workers in the state as he gifted workers who have distinguished themselves in the service various items ranging from cars to refrigerators, plasma TVs etcetera etcetera. Precisely five civil servants collected star gifts of new Toyota Corolla cars for their dedication and loyalty to the system.
Apart from the above mentioned gifts for the selected few, the day was a day of joy for the state civil servants generally as the governor put smiles on their faces more by issuing a cheque of N250M as car refurbishing loans for the entire workforce. But it didn’t stop at that, Governor Oyetola also acquired ten thousand hectares of land for them for Housing Scheme. What a fantastic gesture in the beginning of a new year?
What Governor Oyetola did in Osun state is highly commendable. It’s unprecedented in the history of the state and l doubt if it had ever happened even at federal level. I stand to be corrected on this please. Even at continental level it’s a rare deed on the part of leaders in this part of the world. The gesture of appreciating hard-working workers in this manner will no doubt go a long way in motivating workers towards increased productivity because it signposts a very big hope for a better tomorrow for dedicated ones. For me there’s no better way of encouraging workers than this. However, for the lazy ones in the service and at our different working places, both in the public and private sector, we must always remember that a day will surely come that we will be rewarded according to our attitude to work.
Other leaders need to take a cue from Governor Oyetola’s example. To restore the glory of the civil service, and generally for our country to regain its lost glory, the task is in our hands all though, the bulk of the work lies with our leaders. I mean we need the right leadership that will give direction. Most Nigerians are very hard-working and law abiding. But the right leadership that will give us encouragement by way of motivation is what’s lacking. Governor Oyetola has therefore shown the path to follow and this is why one is compelled by a sense of patriotism to call on our governments at all levels to follow Oyetola’s footsteps.
God bless Nigeria!
Kola Odepeju writes from Osogbo via kolaodepeju@gmail.com
CAVEAT: Views and opinions expressed here are those of the writers and are not in any way those of The Point Newspaper – Editor
