Some people are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them while some achieve greatness through sheer hard work. To Elder Segun Akinwusi, the outgoing Head of Service of Osun State, the latter can be said of him. Having bestrode the public service like a colossus for 35 years, and leaving behind trail of successes and achievements which would be very hard to equal, Akinwusi can be described as the quintessential civil servant who in spite of the enviable position he occupied as the number one civil servant, had not allowed the aura, allure and the trappings of the exalted post to becloud his sense of reasoning. Cool as cucumber, urbane, polished, gentle almost to a fault and very easy- going, Akinwusi's rare disposition has always been his trademark at both his official and private dealings.Right from his Ibadan days where he started his civil service career, to various ministries, parastatals and extra-ministerial agencies after the creation of Osun State, he had always been a likeable person who related comfortably and easily with both his peers and subordinates. At some of the places where he worked such as the defunct State Primary Education Board (SPEB) now known as the State Primary Education Board, (SUBEB) the Teaching Service Commission, (TESCOM) and the House of Assembly where he acted as the Permanent Secretary/Clerk before being appointed as Permanent Secretary in May 2003, he exhibited a lot of dedication, in the discharge of his duties. Unarguably the longest Head of Service since the creation of the state (having been appointed in December, 2003), he would be remembered for the peace, progress and developments which he brought into the civil service as well as promoting the welfare of workers. A believer in the training and retraining of civil servants, it is to the credit of the outgoing Head of Service that, a lot of training windows were opened for the training of workers both locally and internationally.A painstaking and meticulous officer who believes in doing things at the appropriate time, he waited until the hullabaloo and uproar generated by the new Pension Scheme had abated before introducing the system into the Osun State Public Service. Many states who rushed into the scheme had to beat a tactical retreat only to restart the scheme again. This generated a lot of bad blood between the concerned state governments and the civil servants in those states. Rather, Elder Akinwusi ensured that all the apparatuses needed for the smooth take-off of the scheme were available. He even went to the extent of enlightening civil servants and the general public via a radio and television programme on the modus operandi of the programme.He was largely instrumental to the adoption of G.L 17 as a promotion post in the civil service, a feat other states are yet to address.Many at times, as the number one civil servant in the state, who almost always find himself as a factor anytime there is a face-off between the government and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), he had found himself on the firing line but had always been able to broker peace between the government and labour through his endowed administrative acumen. Equally, he is ready to defend any civil servant to any extent so far such a person does not run foul of the laws guiding the rules and regulations of the civil service.Perhaps, one footprint left behind by the outgoing Head of Service which would be difficult to forget, is the production of the new Public Service Rules which was carried out in March 2010. The production of the new Public Service Rules became imminent, according to him because, some of the rules being used then had become obsolete since some of them were made in the 1950s. Ditto for the Financial Regulation.Besides, the civil service as he pointed out, had been bedeviled by indiscipline, lack of commitment and obvious disregard to rules and regulations which needed to be curtailed.In the same vein, the Osun State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Civil Service Secretarial and Stenographic Workers Union (The union that houses all key board users) consisting of Official Reporters, Confidential Secretaries. Data Processing Officers and Secretarial Assistants (formerly called Typists) will not forget in a hurry that it was Elder Akinwusi who was instrumental to the review of their terminal grade from Grade Level 09 to 12 thereby removing the stagnancy which they found themselves since the past 20 years. He philosophy and belief is to see a civil service where the strong will protect the weak, a civil service that is ready to move and adopt current development in administration worldwide. A civil service where officers can compete favourably with their colleagues in the private sector and be well empowered even after retirement.Born on the 29th December, 1952 to Pa Oloyede mama Tejumade Akinwusi in Modakeke, young Olusegun attended Ibadan City Council Primay School, Inalende, Ibadan which he completed in 1964. For his secondary education, he was at Macjob Grammar School, Abeokuta where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1970.In 1971, he enrolled at the famous Ibadan Grammar School for his Higher School Certificate which he successfully completed in 1972. In his quest for higher education, the accomplished administrator attended the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and obtained a B.Sc Honour in Social Sciences in 1976. Thereafter, he attended the University of Bradford, England and acquired a certificate in Project Analysis in 1984.As the seasoned and renowned technocrat bows out of service, leaving the service better than he met it, it behoves on other public servants to emulate the good footsteps left behind by Elder Akinwusi. It is by so doing that, we can have a better and cherished public service which we can all be proud of.Seriki is a Press Secretary to the Head of Service, Osun State.
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