Africa-Press – Nigeria. Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed on Thursday tasked his political appointees to be upright, impartial, honest and patriotic in line with principles of good governance in discharging their assigned responsibilities.
The governor gave the advice while declaring the state anti-corruption workshop organised for political office holders in the state open.
The governor in a statement signed by his media aide, Muktar Gidado, said the workshop was organised for participants to gain new insights into emerging trends and development in public administration.
The governor noted that the capacity building and empowerment conference was valuable and important for strengthening the confidence, skills, knowledge and widen the horizon of participants.
He said the conduct of the summit was a welcome development in the management of government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and therefore enjoined stakeholders in the economic and political arena to join hands with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to promote good governance in the country.
While pointing out that good governance is the soul of democracy, Governor Mohammed said for any government to succeed, it must be seen to fight corruption and indiscipline head-on.
“The participants of the summit must from today see themselves as partners in the fight against corruption. In other words, they must be our present-day foot soldiers in the anti-corruption crusade against this monster.
“This is a well-thought initiative, particularly at this time as the country is striving to entrench an enduring democracy,” the governor was quoted by Gidado to have said.
“By and large, we can only achieve our dream in Nigeria if we effectively and decisively deal with corruption which has eaten too deep in our socio-economic and political life.
“Our future as a successful nation can only depend on how successful we are in the fight against corruption and how effective we are in doing away with the negative attitudes inherent in us.”
The governor said his administration was blocking leakages and administrative infractions in an effort to cleanse the state’s payroll.
He informed that recently the administration removed 2,116 ghost workers from the state Ministry of Health, among who were 100 doctors and 120 primary healthcare staff working with NGOs and still collecting government salaries.
