Cleric Warns Civil Servants Against ill-Gotten Wealth
Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
The Sheikh Imam of National Mosque, Abuja, Prof. Khalid Abubakr Ali, has urged Nigerian civil servants to be upright and desist from ill-gotten wealth, warning that corruption will only end up destroying the workers.
He made the entreaty yesterday during the Special Jumaat Service held at the National Mosque to commemorate the Civil Service Week 2025 with the theme ‘Rejuvenate, Innovate and Accelerate’.
Prof. Ali appealed to civil servants to be transparent in their dealings, offer services devoid of corruption, and to do things for the sake of Nigerians.
“It is this transparency that will uplift our own country and the ill-gotten wealth will but destroy the workers. And while he thinks he wants to move, he can’t move with that because there is no blessing in that. And that we hope government will support our civil service,” Ali said.
Addressing journalists, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Power Mahmud Mamman, said the civil service week was an annual event to celebrate the achievement of what the civil service has recorded over the years.
“As the theme implies, and you heard from the sermon of the imam, without the civil service there should be no meaningful development in any nation. And that is why we came, we prayed that Allah should give us the strength for the civil service in Nigeria, in line with the reform agenda that is being implemented service-wide, so that the civil service can be transparent, accountable, incorruptible, for us to be able to achieve the aspirations of what we want to do,” Mamman said.
He added that the civil service was currently implementing some reform programmes including the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Program, (FCSSIP), of which one of the pillars of the reforms was digitisation concept, aimed at transparency, accountability in all processes.
“And once we are transparent and accountable, there is no reason why we should not be able to achieve the development objectives of the nation. That is why I say it has also aligned with the vision and mission of Mr. President’s Renew Hope Agenda.”
The permanent secretary also lauded the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Esther Didi Walson-Jack, for driving a new culture and promoting a new civil service.
