Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has called on the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, BPSR, to champion reforms around the timely payment of workers’ salaries and other emoluments.
He made the appeal when the Director General of BPSR, Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, and other top management staff of the Bureau paid an advocacy visit to the Ministry.
According to Sylva, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, the delay in paying workers their salaries is partly responsible for low productivity in the public service.
He noted that the morale of civil servants will be dampened by the time they are owed arrears of salaries.
“We are overwhelmed by the excellent work BPSR is doing not only in terms of quantity, but quality,” he added.
Earlier in his address, Arabi, affirmed that the Nigeria Petroleum Sector has been a major driver of the Nigerian economy for decades that as at some points it accounted for between 85%-90% of Government revenue.
He said that BPSR, in line with its mandate, played critical roles in the reforms that opened up the Nigeria Petroleum Sector to proper regulation, restructuring, private sector participation and competition.
“It will be recalled that the reforms in Nigeria Petroleum Sector became necessary due some serious distortions in the marketing of major petroleum products, gas flaring, increased spate of oil spillages, pipeline vandalisation, among many others,” he added.
The BPSR Director General assured that their relationship with the Ministry of Petroleum will remain cordial and mutually beneficial.
“I said so because the reforms in petroleum Sector are immensely contributing to the growth and development of the Nigerian economy through increased employment, decreased crime rate, improved services and greater responsiveness to consumer needs as well as reduced, affordable tariff,” he said.
Signed:
Aliyu Umar Aliyu
