Comrade Orisamuyiwa Oladele is the chairman of Nigeria Civil Service Union, Federal Branch, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) Unit. The Ekiti State-born unionist is also the chairman, Joint Negotiation Council of Trade Unions in OAGF. In this interview with TAIWO ADELU, he spoke about the need to enhance professionalism in the federal civil service and other issues
How is trade unionism at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF)?
Trade unionism is very challenging at the OAGF and again it has been interesting and eventful when I assumed office in March 2011 as the chairman of Nigeria Civil Service Union, NCSU, Federal Branch, OAGF Unit. The reason for the challenge is that you know most of us here are professional accountants with good nose for details, transparency and probity and dealing with people like this you must be of high moral standard. I must say that with the help of God, the management, led by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Jonah Otunla and the cooperation of the workers, we have been coping with the challenges.
What are your achievements since you came into office in 2011?
I thank God for everything because I and my team in the executive were able to establish good relationship between the workers and the management. I’m happy to say that promotion and training of workers have been going on well. The management at OAGF is so dynamic in terms of welfare of staff. There is always a robust welfare package for the staff during any Muslim festival and that of the Christians. Above all, we have peaceful industrial relationship at OAGF unlike in the previous administrations and managements. With what I have been able to achieve in my first term, it was easy for me to seek re-election in March this year and thank goodness, the workforce deemed it fit to return me to the office.
The current AGF, Mr. Otunla, would soon leave office on 12 June, 2015 in accordance with the Civil Service Rules, and as the head of the union at the OAGF, what are those things you would remember the AGF for after leaving office?
The workers at OAGF would remember Mr. Otunla for putting welfare as one of his priorities and like I mentioned earlier we are having peaceful industrial relationship at OAGF because Mr. Otunla understands how to relate with the workers in a mature manner. We can only wish him well in his future endeavour after his tenure as the Accountant General of the Federation.
With the look of things it would be the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) who will appoint a new Accountant General of the Federation when Mr. Otunla leaves office on 12 June, 2015, so what qualities do you think the government should consider before appoint a new AGF for the country?
We expected that input of workers should be sought in appointing the new AGF as you know he is to govern workers here and more importantly, such person must have sound knowledge for him to be able to implement financial decisions of the Federal Government apart from academic qualifications and again high moral standard should be most important.
What are your union’s expectations from the incoming AGF?
Before I will state our expectations I want to emphasise that the workers are ready to work with the new AGF as we did with Mr. Otunla and we believe that the incoming administration at the OAGF would continue to maintain the cordial relationship that exits during the time of Mr. Otunla even better than what the new AGF would meet on ground
Can you tell us what are those things OAGF has been doing in terms of ensuring transparency and accountability in government’s financial transaction?
We have been in the front, since inception of this office (OAGF), to ensure that in all government’s businesses, the financial regulations and treasury circulars are being followed to the letter and we assure Nigerians that as we are transiting to the new governments, both at the level of Federal Government and the coming of the new AGF, we shall continue to ensure that the trend of probity, transparency and accountability continue and get better.
How will you react to the practice of using Consultants to do jobs in the federal services?
It is highly unfortunate that we find ourselves where we are today. Some of the works that traditionally belong to civil servants are being taken over by the so called consultants. This has made many civil servants redundant because they will be idle. The irony of this is that civil servants are competent to do these works and they are better than these consultants. The money being paid to these consultants is even higher than what the civil servants are receiving and sadly enough many of these consultants are being owed by the government. It is high time the Federal Government stopped contracting what ordinarily should be civil servants jobs to consultants. This will save the government money and again enhance professionalism in the civil service. I will like the President-elect, General Buhari (retd.) to look into the issue of Consultants in the civil service.