Date: 2016-12-17

Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara has urged civil servants in the state to change their attitude towards work for effective service delivery.

Ahmed gave the charge on Friday in Ilorin, in his opening remark at a seminar on "Corruption; a Hindrance to Peace", organised by the Passion for Peace Initiatives in partnership with the state government.

The governor, who was represented by state Head of Service, Hajia Zahrah Omar, decried the lukewarm attitude to work among civil servants, urging them to redouble their efforts for effective service delivery.

According to him, civil servants can adopt the new mantra of the Federal Government, "change begins with me," by showing more commitment and zeal to their work.

He said that corrupt practices were not peculiar to politicians alone, but to everybody including civil servants, as every class of the society was guilty of it.

"Going late to work every day is corruption. Going to office doing nothing and you will get paid after 30 days is corruption. So we need change of attitude," he said.

The guest speaker, Rev. Fr Anthony Atoyebi, who is the state Vice-Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), described corruption as dishonest, illegal and selfish act by people. Atoyebi said unity of purpose among civil servants would help fight the course of corruption as there was a need for determination and discipline to kick it out in the country.

He also stressed the need for the Judiciary to carry out its duties with honesty and loyalty to the job, to help fight corruption in the country. "Corruption fight is for everybody and not only the government officials. We can kill corruption totally if we unite and say No," he said.