The Oyo state governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, has charged civil and public servants in the state to be morally upright, firmly committed, and be accountable as the government begins service reform.
The governor gave the charge on Thursday, during a symposium and lying-in-state of the late former head of service and Secretary to the Oyo state government, Chief Theophilus Adeleke Akinyele, held at the House of Chiefs, Agodi-Secretariat, Ibadan.
Governor Makinde, represented by the State’s head of service, Mrs. Amidat Ololade Agboola, said the Oyo state government under his watch will continue to reward outstanding civil and public servants in the service of the state as well as pay their gratuities and pensions after their retirement and also celebrate them after their demise.
In his lecture, the guest speaker at the symposium, professor Tunji Olaopa, implored the Oyo state government to adopt the 21st century administrative and managerial approach to reform the Oyo state civil and public service, noting that there is no way the performance dynamics of the 60s and 70s could match up with the series of administrative governance ideas that have all formed to insist on modernizing the government and its public management framework for better productivity.
The late former head of service and Secretary to the Oyo state government, Chief Theophilus Adeleke Akinyele, was the Federal Director of Budget and Special Adviser on Budget Affairs to late former president, Sheu Shagari. He was born on the 29th of February 1932 and died on the 26th of October 2020.
late Akinyele was the first Oyo state and Ibadan indigene to become the Secretary to the state government and head of the service and also the youngest ever.