Corrupt civil service a monumental tragedy ‎- Osinbajo

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday declared that corruption in the Civil Service was the greatest tragedy facing Nigeria as a nation.

He stated this during the inaugural quarterly civil service lecture series with the theme: “Civil Service in a Change Environment: The Change is Now” at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The Acting President said a situation where civil servants subverted the system for personal gain when majority of the citizens were poor was the tragedy a nation could experience.

According to Osinbajo, “The power to do great good or evil lies with a few people who form what we refer to as our civil service.

“When some of such elite see the opportunity as one for self enrichment by corrupt practices, then the nation faces a monumental tragedy.

“There is no excuse anywhere in a nation where the majority are still poor and are struggling to make a living that anyone who has the benefit of good education and good fortune of a job in the civil service should subvert that service for personal gains, I think its the greatest tragedy that a nation can experience”.

Reminding civil servants that they are sometimes “described as evil servants,” Osinbajo however, urged them to take heart, saying, “the best professions are usually the most criticised, but I must say that the wholesome privilege of public service is very easily abused or taken for granted. The public service elite represent, as we have seen, the most important factor in national development.”

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