Lagos State’s Local Government Service Commission Chairman, Mr. Babatunde Rotinwa, has suggested that open administration across all tiers of government, private, corporate organizations and institutions is the only panacea to curbing corruption in Nigeria.
Rotinwa, who stated this at Ikeja, while receiving the Prestigious Leadership Award for Excellent Work from Fight Against Corruption, FAC, a Non-Governmental Organization, added that if there is open administration and the people believed in it, then corruption would be a thing of the past in Nigeria.
The Chairman said that Nigerians have to go back to the olden days where everything was done on merit, nobody begged for anything or gave an inducement to obtain whatever they wanted rather, people worked hard to attain success. He cited how he went from Grade level 09 as an Administrative Officer and retired as Head of Service (HOS), Lagos State without knocking on anybody’s door but with God’s grace and hard work.
Rotinwa said that if this is re-introduced, it would encourage Nigerians to give back to the country, recalling that in the early 1960s and 1970s, many Nigerians who performed on merit were given scholarships to study abroad and after completing their various courses of study, they came back to the country and contributed their quotas to the development of the Nation.
The Chairman of ‘Fight Against Corruption’, Dr. Francis Shopekan, earlier in his address, said that corruption is a monster that needed to be ‘killed’ in Nigeria, urging all and sundry not to fail from the home front, church, mosque, private sectors and government establishments, to collectively tackle corruption, in order to make Nigeria a better place for all.
Dr. Shopekan, who commended the efforts of Mr. Babatunde Rotinwa, said that the Award was bestowed on the recipient based on his impact on governance as well as his past and present achievements in the various Offices he held while rendering selfless service not only to his State but Nigeria as a whole.
He implored everyone in Public Office to be alive to their responsibilities and work conscientiously to attain the mandates of their various establishments adding that someday, someone will recognize their contributions and reward them accordingly.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Commission, Mrs. Omobolanle Ogunmola, commended Mr. Rotinwa for being a recipient of the award and thanked the organization for honouring him.
She urged Public Servants in the State to be role models in their various capacities and ensure that corruption is eradicated in the society. (LASG)
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