Gov Godwin Obaseki
By Kingsley Abavo, Benin
The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said beginning March 1, 2023, the State Government will prohibit the use of cash in Government offices.
The Governor disclosed this during a Code of Ethics engagement with senior management staff of Edo State civil/public service, as part of the State Government’s transformation enhancement programme (Edo STEP), held at the Government House, in Benin City.
He said, “I have issued a circular that effective March 1st, Government offices will be prohibited from using cash. The Government is pushing toward a cashless economy. So, why must the service dodge transparency? We should be able to explain every amount we spend and how we earned it.”
Obaseki urged civil and public servants in the State to shun corruption and adhere to code of ethics in the discharge of their duties.
“We believe in the civil and public service as without you, we cannot have a functioning Government. That is why we have in the last six years, made your welfare a priority. We pay salaries and pensions on the 26th of each month. We have refurbished your work environment for optimal service delivery. Today, our civil and public servants are the most technology compliant in the country.
“We are deploying resources to make sure that before October this year, every local Government is connected via fiber optic.”
He continued, “We have a crisis in our hands where we are trying to change and improve things for you. Most of you want that but there are still a lot of people who still behave the way they used to behave in the past.
“If we struggle every month to make sure you get your salary on time, why must you now feel that focusing on other areas, trying to make money from other areas illegitimately, is what we should still be doing by this time?”
“The level of wastes and corruption in our public service must be reduced. If you need us to do more and make more resources available to you, then we must all agree to work together to cut down on the wastes and the corruption in our system. We also must agree to be fair to the Government and the people who pay the taxes.”
In his opening remarks, the Edo State Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa Esq., noted that apart from signing the undertaking, the engagement is to discuss the impediments to maximum service delivery and seek out solutions so as to deepen the gains of the administration in the transformative agenda of the service.
“What are the issues bedeviling the service? Why have we not been doing as much as expected with so much the Governor has done for the service allowing corruption, indolence, and complaints to still bedevil the system?”
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