The need for a virile civil/public service Ministries, Departments, and Agencies(MDAs) in a democratic structure has always been evident. This became evident in the latter part of the 19th century, when it was realised that there was need for political insulated service. The civil service commission, governing councils and other relevant boards were established to ensure that political considerations do not influence appointments into the service, as well as promotions and postings for serving officers. The Constitution also guarantees that any civil/public servant will be employed until retirement age except for cases of dismissal or termination, arising out of misconduct, which must be subject to investigation after issuing a preliminary letter (query). In other words, no civil/public servant will be dismissed or terminated just because a new political party has come to power. Whatever the case may be, civil/public servants are expected to be neutral and anonymous. Neutrality includes rendering advice without any political or ideological bias, and serving whoever is the minister or commissioner to the best of the civil servant's ability and agility.Anonymity means that policies are announced by the minister or commissioner, decisions are made by him or on his behalf and it is the minister or commissioner that is held responsible for everything done within his ministry, although he may not have personal knowledge of it. Since we are in a democratic structure, it demands that the truth must be told always and that charlatans, including saints, should be called their proper names, according to Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, first premier of the defunct Western region. He made the statement on June 14, 1958. For the Civil/Public service to perform competently well in democracy, permit me also to quote Chief Awolowo, 'l must say, however, that in all conscience, I felt and still feel that a truly public-spirit person should accept public service, not for what he can get for himself such as profit and glamour of office, but for the opportunity which it offers him of serving his people for the best of his ability, by promoting their welfare and happiness.' In other words, there is the need for the civil/public servants, especially the top echelons, to be imbued with Mandela's stoicism and Caesar's bravery in services to the people. What it implies here is that top civil/public servants in the MDAs should look into issues that need critical appraisal with speed and accuracy before implementation and not to deliberately ignore until the dying minute, so that unnecessary tension and anxiety may not be created. This, in the final analysis, can lead to incessant petition writing and possibly including blackmail to enable the aggrieved civil/public servants get their rights and privileges. The top echelons need to handle their offices with Godly fear and pragmatic philosophy, which should be given the acronym 'HOE' that is, hard work + obedience + endurance = success.This is absolutely necessary because the civil/public service is the engine room of any democratic structure. The public service generally needs to remain vibrant and offer useful suggestions under anonymity to the current leadership of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan so as to make Nigeria better. It seems to me that for all staffers in the civil/public service to perform competently well, they must be rigorously and jealously guided as well as guarded by the statement of the first and only ceremonial president and founder of the first indigenous and autonomous university in Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe because of his oratory prowess, said 'whatever you are, aspire to be the best. If you choose to be the grass, try to be the best grass by the valley bed. In whatever profession you find yourself, create an impact recognisable by the society you belong.'No doubt, with training, retraining and public service experience including exposure, it is crystal clear that some top echelons will ever remain confident, bold, principled, hardworking, intelligent and know how to exhibit high degree of tolerance and discipline. This will really make the democratic structure to remain relevant and be sustained. All ranks and files in the civil/public service of the federation, should demonstrate not only as responsible citizens of this great country, but also committed to the restoration of the vision of the Jonathan-Ied administration. While civil/public servants at the helm of affairs, should believe in the statement of James Oppenheim which says 'learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow'. Max De Oree added to this, when he said, 'The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant'. In this connection, therefore, let top civil/public servants see themselves as true leaders who are known to build legacies, mobilise and harness resources through motivated people, as well as develop successors. In the words of Mbanefo Odum, 'Truth can be taunted but cannot be humiliated. It can be temporarily suspended but cannot be annihilated. It can be suspended to injustice but will surely emerge with a resounding victory. The ugly part of truth, for the unjust, is that it can rear its head when it is least expected. Like the chameleon, truth can move at a very slow speed, but will surely get to its destination'. Since the civil/public service is the engine room of any democratic structure, public relations (PR) must never be neglected. This is because PR is the skilled communication of an organisation's policies and programmes to its relevant publics, to build a bridge of understanding and goodwill between the two. In doing so, it promotes peaceful industrial climate, higher productivity and corporate discipline as well as convinces people about the organisation's credibility, performance, potential and the quality of its products/services. For our civil/public service to really remain as the engine room of any democratic government, this should be the time for critical reappraisal and restrategising to ensure that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the Federal Government are achieved. It is, therefore, a truism to say that the only way to achieve this is by way of rededication to duty and service, and above all, loyalty and commitment to the cause of our nation. It appears that the real danger for the civil/public service to properly remain as the engine room, is the sustained use of language as instrument of exclusion as well as tribalism, favouritism, nepotism, marginalisation, godfatherism, godmotherism, open abuse of government policies which leads to injustice, victimisation and the use of 'special boys' whom at the end we can no longer control and things will continue to fall apart and the center can no longer hold. Soeze can be reached via charlessoeze@yahoo.ca
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