The Ondo government has asked civil servants, especially health workers in the state workforce, seeking greener pastures abroad to ensure they tender their resignation letters before travelling. 

Kayode Ogundele, the state’s Head of Service, advised at an event to mark this year’s Public Service Week in Akure, the state capital. 

Mr Ogundele observed how health workers leave the system without knowing what awaits them. 

“The japa is everywhere, but there is no place better than Nigeria because the things we condole here in government working place, you cannot do it over there. 

“If you decide not to work with the Ondo State government again, workers should be sincere and courageous enough to let the government know. Just be kind enough to give us the required notice.

“It’s better you kindly tender your letter of resignation when you want to Japa and don’t be a burden on our bill and ensure you exit gracefully. There is no other greener pasture better than Nigeria,” he said on Tuesday. 

He observed that some workers travelling abroad disregarded the civil service rules of engagement by wanting to receive salaries from the government despite exiting the workforce. 

“We have seen cases where some officers will travel abroad and still want to be collecting salary until there is verification of workers, particularly in the health sector. 

“And anyone caught not resigning will face the penalty for that because he or she would be seen as flouting the rules of engagement, and don’t send anyone or your monarch to come and beg us.” 

Mr Ogundele added that the government was planning the recruitment of over 1,000 health workers to solve the issues of brain drain. 

According to him, the state government has also promoted over 12,000 public servants in different cadres of ministry, parastatals and agencies of the state. 

“To date, all workers who are due for promotion in 2023 have received their promotion letters, and the process for 2024 promotion will soon commence.

“Notwithstanding the lean resources of government, some critical recruitments have been made to boost the health, works and education sectors, and some redeployments were made from other sectors to shore up the staffing positions in our schools pending when a full-scale recruitment would be made,” he stated.

This year’s edition of the public service week has the theme: Bureaucratic Impact on Investment Promotion in Ondo State and will be held for three days.