The Chairman of Odi-Olowo Ojuwoye LCDA, Hon Rasaq Ajala, has pledged the sum of one hundred thousand naira as an annual prize for a best-graduating student.
The council boss made the pledge on Saturday April 1, 2023, while receiving an award from the National Association of the Public Administration Students (Part-time) Yaba College of Technology.
HRA was presented with an Award of Excellence at the department.
While appreciating the students, the council boss stated, “I wish to announce that myself and my wife will be giving the best ND student in both full-time and part-time the sum of one hundred thousand naira annually.”
He thanked the organizer of the event for giving him the platform to share his thoughts on the role of Public Administrator towards the National Goal.
“Public Administrators and Public Servants have distinct roles, though the two work hand in hand,” HRA said.
He added, “A public administrator would have prepared himself or herself to serve the people with a clear manifesto of his party and agenda by throwing his or her hat in the ring to contest an election and equally prepare his or her programmes he or she intends to execute with his or her team (EXCO).”
He maintained that the attainment of national goals does not lie exclusively with the public administrator
According to the chairman, people always blame the politicians for the success or failure of a government, forgetting that public servants equally have important roles they play in the success or otherwise of the performance of such government
“No matter how fantastic a politician’s ideas are, if he or she does not have the support of the public servant, such ideas and programs will fail,” he said.
He stated further, “It is instructive that any political office holder who does not have the support of the public servants working with him or her would fail woefully.
“It is worthy of note that the implementation of the project at any level of government is done by the public servant, hence an armchair political office-holders would be in the illusion of his achievements when the actual reality would be the opposite.”
He, therefore, advised the gathering who are potential public administrators in the future to get prepared for the task ahead after leaving the four walls of the classroom.
He encouraged them to be active and get involved in who they chose as their representatives in their immediate community, the larger ones, which include their wards, local government, state, and National level.
He also warned against being an armchair public servant, urging them to create a means to supervise the works and projects in their various departments when they eventually get to work for the public.
The Head of the Department, Mr. Aina, thanked Hon. Ajala for honoring their invitation. He prayed to God to continue to elevate him to a higher pedestal politically.
