Yemisi Izuora
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Musa Istifanus has strongly advised civil servants to demonstrate courage by humbly calling attention of their superior officers to directives issued especially when it is clear that its execution will lead to disservice to the people.
The Permanent Secretary charged civil servants not to make decisions that would create difficulties for the citizens of the country.
He stated this during a send forth organized by the Ministry for the Director, Telecommunications and Postal Services, Engr. Ngozi Ogujiofor for her statutory 35 years in the service at the Ministry’s Headquarters, Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary stated that the outgoing Director is courageous, diligent and professional in the course of performing her official duties in the Ministry noting that she is ready to say no to any decisions that would mislead her principals in policy formulation and implementation.
He said a civil servant must be courageous to say “No sir” to their boss in the course of policy and decision making in order to avoid execution of wrong policy in the country.
According to him “loyalty does not prevent you from guiding your boss rightly and still say no sir. If you are not able to do that, you are not worth to be a civil servant. We are not only expected to work for the benefit of the public, we are also expected to be civil while serving the society, which means no decisions of ours should in any way create difficulties for any citizens in the country”.
Istifanus urged the staff to emulate Engr. Ngozi for her courage, diligence; resourcefulness and loyalty to the service adding that her contributions to the policy formulation helped in shaping the success of the National Broadband Penetration 2020-2025 policy and implementation and adoption of the Right of Way policy (ROW) by the state governors.
In his goodwill message, Director, Radio Monitoring and Survey, Engr, Kilyobas N. Binga pointed out that the outgoing director is disciplined, diligent, and adhere to due process. She is passionate about the health of the staff in the Ministry adding that staff should emulate her leadership style that shapes the career progression of her staff.
In her response, Engr. Ngozi Ogujiofor thanked the Ministry for the cooperation and support given to her and urge the staff to continue to perform their duties Director, Telecommunications and Postal Services, Engr. Ngozi Ogujiofor to her “a statement made by our leader become a policy to be implemented and we must find a way to implement that policy statement by coming out with programs and projects that would implement the policy. It is our duty to make Nigeria great”. She added.