In a bid to promote accountability and integrity in public service delivery, and as part of the activities to commemorate this year’s International Anti-Corruption week, a civil society organisation, Accountability Lab has honored about five civil servants who have demonstrated unwavering integrity in performing their duties.
The Civil Servants were recognised at an integrity icon award night, themed: ‘Naming and Framing honest government officials’ organized by Accountability Lab, in collaboration with Luminate, MacArthur, Ford foundation, and the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP.
During the ceremony, the Accountability Lab presented awards to a select group of civil servants who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to combat corruption and promote accountability.
The awardees were: A legal practitioner, Catherine Ogunjebi, a Primary health care practitioner, Lois Akut, Mr. Samuel Ogundare, a Health care practitioner, Wode Seiyefa and an Educator, Ogechukwu Nkwuda.
Speaking, Accountability Lab’s country director, Odeh Friday, stressed the significance of recognizing civil servants who uphold ethical principles, adding that the awardees were chosen based on their outstanding track records and notable achievements in upholding ethical standards within their respective areas of responsibility.
His words: “So, basically for civil servants working across MDAs across the country, they are the ones whom we’ve identified today to name and fame. Five of them from over 2,500 nominations which we have received nationwide.
“The choice of civil servants, they are the ones that do the work when it comes to service delivery for citizens. If you go to any MDAs, they are the ones whom you will interact with.
“So, for us how do you rate Civil servants who serve the public? Meaning, how do you ensure that we as citizens are getting the best and the dividend of democracy from these civil servants? I am not sure we will get this from Ministers or policyholders but directly if I want to get my driver’s license, I will deal with civil servants, if I want to get my international passport, that is why we have that force.”
On her part, the National Coordinator, SERVICOM, Mrs Nnena Akajemeli, said: “The bottom line of this is raising and praising those who excel at their duty post. They are painstakingly going through filtering out saints from sinners.
“They’ve worked very hard through picking out the people who have served with huge integrity; people who did ordinary things in extraordinary way and so when this is done and people are rewarded and applauded and commended for standing out in their organization, it sends a huge positive message to the rest of the members of such MDAs across the nation.
“It helps us institutionalize health competition amongst the service providers and this is done without bias from the highest CEOs to the lowest serving officers. For those who stand out, they are raised and praised and they are picked as ordinary people and made celebrities and champions.”
Among the honorees was a legal practitioner, Catherine Ogunjebi, known for her relentless pursuit of justice and zero tolerance for bribery.
In her acceptance speech, Ogunjebi expressed her heartfelt appreciation, stating, “The integrity award is a one of a kind because it rewards the difficult job that we do especially as public servants.
“There are times when you see your colleague with a new vehicle or even a new cloth or they are able to buy things from the mall and there are times when you can’t buy them because your salary has not been paid and you don’t know how to sort yourself out and yet you’re able to stand out there.
“There was a time I had only N2000 on me and someone was offering to give me N200,000 over a case and I had to turn down not because I had so much but because I believed integrity is not just about knowing the right thing but in doing the right thing.”
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