Former President Goodluck Jonathan says visionary leaders will always prioritise the welfare of their workforce to boost governance.

Mr Jonathan said this on Wednesday when he inaugurated the Edo State Civil Service Secretariat Complex on Sepele Road, Benin.

Mr Jonathan also laid the foundation stone for a 1,500-capacity auditorium for civil servants within the secretariat’s premises.

“Listening to the history of the secretariat complex, I now know the power of vision. It takes somebody who wants to give his best to his people to do that. Where you are working needs to be clean. Human beings need to work in a comfortable environment.

“Thank you for providing this befitting secretariat. You do not have this setting so common in Nigeria. This is one of the best. It takes someone with vision to provide this type of edifice,” he said.

The former president, who also commended Edo governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, for giving automatic employment to first class graduates in the state, thanked him for encouraging the best brains in the state.

“In some states, governors are busy encouraging criminals because of politics, people that will rig election for them, carry ballot boxes, carry knives and cutlasses to pursue people. But you are encouraging the best brains in Edo.

“The brains you have provided automatic employment to didn’t come from one political party. The brains come from all the political parties. The brains came from those who are supporting all the candidates. You are not supporting these brains because you want to win the election.

“But because you want to build a state, and for you to build a state, you have to build the people,” he said.

He also thanked the governor for improving the welfare of the civil servants.

“Before now, civil servants have been going home with salaries that couldn’t take them home. Initially, when I read in the papers that you proposed to pay N70,000 minimum wage, I was also worried if this my good friend will be able to pay.

“To be a leader, especially a political leader, you must be somebody who has vision. If you have a vision, no matter how challenging it is, you will find a way to do well,” he said.

Mr Jonathan, however, called on undergraduates in the state to become more serious about their academics so that they could graduate with a first class and secure automatic employment in the state.

“Those who are undergraduates should struggle to make first class degrees instead of going to join cult gangs, drinking alcohol and raping women. You should try to make good grades. So, if you have opportunity to go to school, take your school seriously,” he added.

Earlier in his address, Mr Obaseki said it became important to upgrade the workplace, personalities and capacity of public servants and the public service for maximum productivity.

“That is why we have damned all consequences to upgrade our public infrastructure to a global standard. When we started the project of these buildings, many people did not see the big picture.

“I am very, very confident that wherever Brig.-Gen. Samuel Ogbemudia of blessed memory is today, he will be proud that his dreams of building a secretariat complex such as this have been realised today,” Mr Obaseki said.

(NAN)