Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has assured workers in the state that his administration focus is on building their capacity, for optimum performance.

Governor Fayemi, who described civil servants as essential drivers of government policies, said his administration has set up an Institute of Governance at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, to exclusively train civil servants.

The Governor disclosed this during a courtesy call by the Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries of Ekiti State at the weekend. He promised to accord special recognition to members of the association at whatever capacity he could.

Governor Fayemi promised to strengthen the civil service transformation programme he started during his first term in office by appointing a Permanent Secretary to focus exclusively on capacity development, adding that government would soon carry out an update on public service reforms and rules and regulation he put in place during his first term in office.

The Governor said: “We have a Civil Service transformation programme which was something I started when I was on my first missionary journey here, but we’ve basically continued along that line, the addition that we have added this time around is the specific focus.

“We’ve actually appointed a Permanent Secretary to focus exclusively on capacity development which was not the case in the past. So the public service reform is kind of separated from the Establishment and Training. And when I was here the first time, we established an Institute of Governance which was supposed to be an equivalence of Institute of Administration that was attached to the Western Region Public Service in Ife.

“I have mandated the Head of Service to work with the new Permanent Secretary in charge of capacity development to restructure the one we have in Ekiti State University specifically dedicated to civil servants so that we can use it as a training ground for them.

The governor assured the retired Heads of service and permanent secretaries that after necessary consultations, he would embark on payment of their 50 percent pension parity adding that welfare of the senior citizens is paramount in his heart.

“I guess the union of pensioners have become more active in Ekiti so to speak and what we do now is even the N100 million that we have approved from the N10 million that they used to pay, we pretty much hand it over to the union of pensioners to manage and they are very religious with their first come first serve approach which is fair so that we would avoid any problem from anyone, whether you are permanent secretary or messenger in the service and I think that has sort of calm the system because everybody knows when it’s going to be his turn.

Earlier, the chairman of the association, Chief Abiodun Ajayi, stated the objectives of the association to include serving as a vehicle of development by making its views available on any contemporary issue that would promote the interest of Ekiti State in general and public service in particular.

While commending the governor for the regular payment of salaries and pension, Chief Ajayi implored government to look into the issue of parity of pension of their members who retired long ago as well as ensuring the reforms of the public service to achieve better service delivery.

•Photo shows, L-R; Vice Chairman, Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries in Ekiti State, Alhaji Oladoro Yakubu Sanni; member/elder statesman, Chief Deji Fasuan; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Chairman of the association, Chief Abiodun Ajayi; and Pastor Richard Adejuyigbe; during a courtesy visit to the Governor by members the association in Ado-Ekiti.

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