Obaseki Approves Recruitment of 500 Professionals into State Civil Service

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has approved the recruitment of 500 professionals into the state’s civil service.

This follows projections by the Edo State Civil Service Commission that nine per cent of the state’s workforce will attain the age of 60 or 35 years in service within the next five years, while three per cent of the total workforce is currently at the directorate cadre.

Obaseki speaking shortly after receiving the 2019 Civil Service Commission Report at the Government House in Benin City on Thursday reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to reposition the civil service for optimal performance, while ensuring the welfare of workers in the state.

The governor noted: “I promised during my inauguration that one of the major assignments I was going to embark on was a total transformation of state’s civil and public service.

“I am not going to spare a kobo to make sure that we accomplish it. I want to solicit your support; the exercise we are going to embark on now is going to be total and comprehensive.

"Within the next twelve months, we are going to undertake a comprehensive restructuring of the civil service. We will no longer promote on the basis of just having been there.”

 "The fact of being in the civil service for a long time does not automatically qualify you for a promotion; your promotion has to be based on merit and performance,” he added.

On her part, Chairman of the Commission, Princess Ekiuwa Inneh, disclosed that a total of 289 civil servants retired from service in 2019, adding that state’s workforce comprises 1,852 males and 1,192 females, giving a total of 3,044 workers.

She added, “nine per cent of the workforce will attain the age of 60 or 35 years of service within the next five years, while three per cent of the total workforce is at the directorate cadre.

“The governor has therefore approved for the commission to recruit over five hundred professional staff into the state civil service.”

The civil service chair continued: “The governor made this promise during his campaign and is determined to transform the state civil service; he has since realised that there are vacancies that need to be filled.

"In 2018, he also gave approval and we recruited well over four hundred personnel into the state civil service. And right now, he has given approval to bring in over five hundred qualified personnel into the state civil service."