Pelumi Olajengbesi, an Abuja-based legal practitioner and rights activist, has called on the Federal Government to immediately scrap its Service Compact With All Nigerians ( SERVICOM), having outlived its usefulness to Nigerians.
The legal practitioner recollected that in 2004, Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief with the emergence of “Service Compact With All Nigerians” popularly known as SERVICOM.
However, after almost 20 years of inception, Olajengbesi insisted that the organization has become moribund, ineffective and counterproductive in rendering services to Nigerians, particularly serving and retired civil servants.
He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to desist from using taxpayers’ money to fund SERVICOM which he claimed, is no longer serving any useful purpose.
Olajengbesi claimed that the body has failed woefully to be a mechanism through which Nigerians can lodge complaints against tyrannical and errant public officers whose conduct falls below the standard required of public and civil servants.
He noted that the agency was established to promote effective, quality and efficient service to the people of Nigeria as well as empower public officers to be alert to their responsibilities in providing improved, efficient, timely and transparent service across governmental ministries, departments, agencies and parastatals.
The lawyer maintained that the body has offices in all Federal Government agencies, taking complaints and ensuring efficiency, justice and fairness in all government agencies.
However, he expressed dismay that the body has now failed to uphold the purpose of its establishment, adding that the agency no longer addresses complaints and has now become very ineffective. “The organization leadership and modus Operandi has accordingly encouraged abuse of official duties on the one hand as well as precluding victims of these errant officers from accessing appropriate remedy within the administrative system”.
As a way out, the lawyer canvassed that the Federal Government should either inject a new lease of life into the agency or scrap it with immediate effect so as to stop wasting scarce resources on unproductive ventures.
He lamented while the organization had gone down the drain, its workers have continued to draw salaries from the Federal Government coffers without doing any work to justify the pay.
“Go to virtually all agencies of the Federal Government where Servicom is supposed to be feasible and productive by keeping service providers on their toes, you will hardly see their traces in anywhere whereas the workers are still drawing pays from the federation account”, Olajegbesi stated.
Meanwhile, speaking to journalists weekend, Olajegbesi equally called on the National Assembly to revisit the issue of the retirement age of Police officers to effect the true intention of law, saying a situation whereby a non-career police or paramilitary officer is asked to head such security agencies are unacceptable.
“Former President Muhammadu Buhari refused to assent to the Police Service Act Amendment bill, however, I am calling on the National Assembly to revisit that bill and do the needful, he said.
“Allowing a retired Inspector General to continue to head the Nigerian Police means that a non-serving police officer is heading serving officers, Olajegbesi noted.
He, therefore, insisted that the 10th NASS must come up with legislation that will checkmate excessive executive rascality as witnessed under the past administration whereby a none Custom Officer was appointed as the Comptroller of Nigerian Customs.