Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday, said some state governors were encouraging criminals for the purpose of using them during elections.
He urged them to emulate the Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, who is promoting and encouraging the best brains through his automatic employment of first-class graduates in the state.
Jonathan said this at the commissioning of the renovated Edo State Civil Service Secretariat Complex in Benin City.
“Let me also join the Head of Service, the young First Class graduate you employed, we thank you. When the Head of Service mentioned that in his speech, I was quite pleased. In fact, if you go to some states, governors are busy encouraging criminals because of politics, people that will rig elections for them, carry ballot boxes, carry knives and cutlasses to pursue people, but you are encouraging the brains.
“The brains don’t come from one political party. The brains come from all political parties. The brains come from those who are supporting all candidates. So you are not supporting these brains because you want to win an election but because you want to build a state, and for you to build a state, you have to build the people”, he said.
The former president also commended the state governor for improving the welfare and providing a conducive working environment for the civil servants in the state.
“Let me also join the civil servants to thank you for improving their welfare. Of course, before this time, civil servants have been going home with salaries that cannot take them home, now, you are paying them salaries that can take them home.
“When I read in the newspapers that he is going to start paying N70,000 minimum wage, I was worried and expressed I hope that he can pay. A political leader must be somebody who has a vision and not someone who just wants to get to office and doesn’t know what to do when he gets there.
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“If you have a vision, no matter the challenges, you must find a way to perform,” Jonathan added.
On his part, Obaseki said the Civil Service Secretariat Complex was the first place he visited when he assumed office as the governor of the state.
He said that the complex was in a very sorry state, he promised to revamp it and make it conducive for workers to carry out their jobs in the belief that a conducive working environment would always lead to a workforce that can boost productivity.
Also speaking, the state Head of Service, Mr. Anthony Okungbowa, thanked the state governor for revolutionizing and digitalizing the state civil service.
He stated that the governor has provided a conducive environment for the state workers to be effective in their day-to-day assignments.
Okungbowa said that the state is the only one paying its workers the highest minimum wage when other states are making excuses and can’t raise their own to that amount of money.
He added that the state is the only one that offers automatic employment to first-class graduates of Edo origin from any of the universities in the country.
