The Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has accused permanent secretaries in the state of using memos as a means to siphon money from government purse.
Godwin Obaseki, who was angry, said most of the memos from the permanent secretaries in the absence of commissioners, has been on how to spend money on activities.
The governor dropped the hint during a one-day on-boarding programme for newly inaugurated commissioners with the theme, “Finishing Strong,” held at the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA), in Benin City.
Expressing disappointment with the performance of some permanent secretaries in the past few weeks, the governor stated, “Let me tell my permanent secretaries, I am going to be hard on you because I watched with a keen interest in the last four to five weeks when we didn’t have commissioners and read most of your memos.
“Memos from four or five ministries were particularly bad. About 80 per cent of the memos were just about how to spend money on activities.”
According to him, the concern among the permanent secretaries were more on activities than policy promotion.
“The memos have nothing to do about policy but on how to spend money here and there.”
Aware the development can cause friction between the perm secretaries and the commissioners, Obaseki said there will need for dialogue.
“We are going to have conversations, and I will show you because I kept records. The good thing is that I read. I see why it will cause problems between you and your commissioners.
“If we must finish strong, we will not have weak permanent secretaries but strong ones, with technology for optimal service delivery to the people.
“I welcome you and assure you that in the next 18 months, we are going to have fun and enjoy ourselves while we work together and continue in our developmental strides”.
He told the commissioners that those in government must tell the people what it has done.
“We are going to be explaining to our people what we have done and why we have done them and how the future will look as we must sell hope to Edo people.”
The governor further warned the Commissioners, “If you don’t deliver services to Edo people, they will not come out to vote again as it’s difficult to rig now. Don’t worry about the politics but about the work, letting the people know our achievements for the past six years.”
