Zamfara: Gov Moves against Corrupt Practices, Mulls Civil Service Reforms

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, says his administration will not tolerate any form of corruption or indolence from members of his cabinet and the civil servants.
“We were elected to change how government business was done, the way that kept us trailing at the tail end of all development indices in Nigeria,” Lawal said on Thursday while presiding over an extraordinary Executive Council meeting at the Government House.
A statement by the Governor’s spokesperson, Sulaiman Bala Idris, said the meeting was the first in 2024.
Idris noted that the governor urged all government appointees, Commissioners and Special Advisers to understand his mission and make necessary adjustments in order to retain their positions.
The statement quoted the governor as saying that, “to our Commissioners, Heads of Agencies and Departments, you are Chief Executive Officers in your respective MDAs.
“You are not sole administrators. You are appointed to provide leadership and direction, not to award contracts or share resources meant to develop our people and communities.
“You are not contractors and suppliers, you are servants of the people.
“You must remove from your individual and collective psyche the idea that you are appointed to do anything else other than to serve and improve the lot of the people, by providing necessary facilities and infrastructure that will support their lives and activities and not to take money from the public till to give to them.
“We must make the difference required to move the state forward, we must do things differently.
“We were not elected by the people of this state to merely replace the faces and characters of those before us.
“In that regard, I say this to you all here today, I will not tolerate any acts of corruption and indolence from any appointee or civil servant.
“I have repeatedly said that I am not here to make money and anyone who harbours a dream of self-enrichment should better either change your mind or honourably resign from the government.
“As I said before, we chose each of you based on the strength of your character, personality and capacity.
“We expect that you will make the necessary sacrifices to change the narrative in our dear state.
“We cannot achieve much if we don’t review our civil service and charter of service.
“I intend to introduce and make the state civil service a model that will be the proper instrument for the development of our state.
“I am charging the Head of the Civil Service to immediately develop a workable proposal on how to reform the state civil service and project it to the level of efficiency and effectiveness with the central objective of service of the people.
“While the civil service is being reformed, I intend to support the capacity building of our workforce. “I’m prepared to train our civil servants both at home and abroad. Excel should be your watchword and I will be there for you,” the statement said.