The National Assembly Management has cautioned members of staff to steer clear of acts capable of causing financial embarrassment to the image of the National Assembly and the Nigerian public service.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Omolori, gave the caution at the unveiling and presentation of the Code of Ethics in National Assembly Service, on Monday in Abuja.
He tasked the staff on understanding of the Public Service Rule to enable them discharge their duties with diligence and honesty.
He also called for adherence to rules of engagement and attitudinal change with regards to punctuality, availability at duty post and respect for hierarchy of office.
“One of my first major assignments on assumption of office as the Clark to the National Assembly was to take stock of so many variables in respect of human resources and productivity.
“This is necessary as it is obvious that competent and well-grounded staff is key to the realisation of our overall objectives in the formation and implementation of service goals.
“The exercise revealed the existence of gaps in the staff attitude and understanding of Public Service Rule, Disciplinary Code and Ethics.
“Following the stock taking, a disciplinary committee was set up to come up with strategies for ensuing attitudinal changes in staff,’’ he said.
Omolori said the committee considered suitable options and strategies and eventually came up with the publication of a pocket friendly “Code of Ethics’’ to serve as a means of enlightenment and constant reminder to staff.
On his part, Senate President Bukola Saraki, said the unveiling of the publication was an evidence of National Assembly’s continuous determination to set the pace for other Nigerians to follow
Represented by the Chairman Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Saraki commended the management for its role in the smooth running of the assembly, adding that Nigerians often forgot that the management formed an integral part of the national assembly.
“When Nigerians think of the National Assembly they do not think about the management. They simply think that the lawmakers who are elected are all that make up the National Assembly.
“They do not know that you are the real national assembly. When we come in we know nothing. You are the people that tell where to go,’’ he said.
The lawmaker tasked the management to always shun acts capable of causing distrust in the course of their duties.
He added that “the question of ethics and the lack of it in our public service is what has led to distrust between the public and those of us who are politically exposed.
“The reason is that they see us do things that do not conform to what the rule book says and they see us break the law and things that are unethical to what we expect the public service to be.
“So, when we say do as I do and yet we do not do that thing that we are supposed to do, people look at us and feel that we are not to be trusted.’’
The Guest Speaker, Tunji Okopa, said though professional civil servants were not seen nor heard, they constituted the force that make or mar the reputation and legitimacy of any government.
Okopa, a retired Federal Permanent Secretary added that political power did not exist in a democracy for its own sake but a means to an end, which is good governance.
“Democracy is founded on a set of principles and codes making it a moral imperative with specific values by which functions of government are morally acceptable with set parameters by which conducts can be evaluated.
“There are fundamental questions we need to answer, including, what is the understanding of the public servant’s understanding of public service,’’ he said.
The guest speaker stressed that good governance required ethical and entrepreneurial management that ensures understanding of the relationship between professionalism, democracy and ethics.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
