Welcoming New Head of Service

ONDO State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, on Monday, swore-in Mr. Oludare Aragbaiye as the new Head of Service.  He was appointed  by the Governor following the retirement of his predecessor, Mr. Toyin Akinkuotu having put in thirty-five years in service.

ARAGBAIYE, according to Mr. Governor, got the job due to his candour, discipline, devotion to duty, training experience, general acceptance by good leadership quality among others. He becomes the 13th Head of Service produced in the state. The role of the Head of Service is to provide leadership for the career civil servants in the state’s MDAs. The office owes its legal basis to sections 157 (3) and 188 (3) of the 1989 and 1999 constitution.

WE  welcome Mr. Aragbaiye to this exalted but challenging office. It is our hope that he will bring his rich experiences garnered over the years as an administrative officer in various offices to bear in his new office. He is coming when the state is witnessing great financial crisis  while demands from the electorate are on the increase. Government will therefore be in need of his expertise, courage and experience at galvanizing civil servants into achieving all the state government programmes and policies.

 THE civil service is the administrative engine room of any state and it is saddled with the responsibility of implementing and enforcing the policies and programmes of government. It therefore means that for policy objectives of the state to be achieved, the civil service must be alive to its responsibilities .In recognition of the roles of the civil service in socio-economic and political developments of the state through effective and efficient service delivery, successive administrations have developed strategies towards improving the performance of the civil service through series of reforms.

THE  ultimate goal of  the civil service reform is to raise the quality of services delivered to the populace, support economic and social development and enhance the capacity to carry out core government functions such as revenue generation, financial management, personnel management, policy formulation among others.

WE therefore charge Mr. Aragbaiye to  work towards the repositioning of the state  civil service for quality service delivery. This he must do by setting agenda for the  total overhaul of the entire civil service architecture  of the state and make it complainant with modern realities. This he will achieve by encouraging  civil servants  to embark on training and retraining programmes.

EFFORTS  should be intensified especially in the area of information and communication technology. We also submit that the state  government and the Office of the Head  of Service  should  put in place various incentives to reward outstanding contributions, diligence to duty  and hardworking in the service.

ALSO, the Head of Service  must be loyal and supportive to government at all times, without compromising his legacy of objectivity, impartiality, and adaptability over the years.

HE should be conscious of the fact that as an officer of a  conservative institution, it is incumbent on him to be aware of forces of dynamism as captured by innovation, modernization and change. This, we feel,  is the only way the  civil servants  can remain relevant, respected, efficient and effective in  service delivery responsibility to the government.

WE  call on Mr. Aragbaiye to always advise the government correctly and strive to lead by example. We wish to remind him that he has a duty not to compromise the integrity required  of the office he presently holds.

THE Hope wishes him a very impactful and successful tenure in office.