Obaseki Praises EDSG Graduate Development Program as First Cohort Complete Training

By Nosakhare Agbonigiarhuoyi

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has hailed the Edo State Government’s Graduate Development Program, pointing out that the success of any society hinges on a strong bureaucracy.

Governor Obaseki made this remark on Thursday, 15 September, 2022 when he received the first cohort of graduates who have completed the program at the Government house, Benin City.

The Governor, who sat through the presentations of some of the trainees, expressed satisfaction with the initial decision of his administration to embark on the programme.

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He said: “We have to rebuild the civil service and the public service of Edo State. No society, no community can do well without a strong bureaucracy. 

“The bureaucracy is the soul of any institution; and the reason why it’s the soul of any institution is that, it’s the bureaucrats who have the responsibility to act as custodians of the system. They are really the owners of the system. 

“Political leaders will come and go, but the bureaucrats remain and are trained to implement those policies that may have been enunciated. This training takes a lifetime.”

“The best and the brightest in most countries go to the public services; and the reason why you have an advantage is that the kind of responsibility, the kind of exposure you get in your training, in your careers as civil servants, you are not likely to get it anywhere else; and by the time you finish and you want to go outside, you actually are rated premium,” he added.

Speaking on past challenges in the area of staff recruitment, Obaseki said: “When we were recruiting your group, we had to recruit on the basis of merit. There was no Governor’s list in the recruitment; I didn’t have a candidate. My candidates were the best candidates that came out: which is you. And of the 300 or so of you, we have 10% of you that were screened who came top.”

“You don’t need a godfather to do well or to come top in your chosen careers and there is nothing wrong with being a public servant.”

On her part, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Strategy, Policy, Projects and Performance Management, Mrs. Serah Ajose Adeogun, said: “The mission of the development programme is to nurture and develop young talents within service; building their core capabilities to meet the immediate and future talent requirements to drive excellence within the civil and public service.”

Adeogun continued: “As part of this programme, they were to develop innovative projects through their interactions within the last one year, moving from different ministries and agencies so that they get a wide-eye view of the service and get experience within that.

“After one year on the programme, we are now going to take them through a training process, depending on their areas of expertise, starting with soft skills training, which has been designed by the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA) to ensure that we are building them up in capacity and capability to enable them showcase the talents with which they have come into the service and become great leaders of the future,” she added.