The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said his government will in 2022, sustain ongoing reforms in the state’s civil and public service, enhancing the work environment and boosting the capacity of the workers for optimal service delivery.

Obaseki, who spoke to journalists in Benin City, said his administration would in the forthcoming year commence phase two of the ongoing recruitment exercise and expand in-service training opportunities for public and civil servants.

The state government had in September, on-boarded over 300 newly recruited staff that make up the first set of the proposed 2,000 staff to be employed into the state’s workforce.

Obaseki said his government was committed to retooling the civil service and equipping workers with the right skills to deliver efficient and effective service to the Edo people.

According to him, “In the new year, we would deepen the ongoing public/civil service transformation through increased process enhancement and automation. This would also include phase 2 of the recruitment exercise and expanding in-service training opportunities for public-civil servants. For this, we have set aside monies in the 2022 budget to enhance the work environment and boost capacity for optimal service delivery.”

Enumerating his administration’s achievements in revamping the civil and public service in the outgoing year, the governor noted, “We implemented an expansive institutional transformation exercise, which is aimed at retooling, unbundling, restructuring and energizing the systems and personnel in government to adapt and deploy bespoke practices to enhance service delivery.

“We launched the Edo State Public/Civil Service Transformation Program (EdoSTEP) to institutionalise and monitor this process, just as continuous in-service capacity enhancement programmes are ongoing at the John Odigie-Oyegun Public Service Academy,” the governor said.

(THISDAY)