BY GBENGA ARIYIBI
ADO-EKITI— GOVERNOR Kayode Fayemi Thursday swore in nine permanent Secretaries,  advising them and other civil servants in the state to steer clear of partisan politics, even as the government approved a social security scheme to take care of aged people who are 65 years and above.

Addressing the new permanent Secretaries and other senior civil servants, the governor assured that merit would be the sole determinant of who became the permanent secretaries and top civil servants in the state

Fayemi lamented that the position of Permanent Secretary had been bastardized, abused and politicized before he assumed office and vowed to bequeath a virile and service delivery civil service to the state .

He urged the new permanent secretaries to use their wealth of experiences and skills acquired over time for speedy transformation of the state civil service.

The Governor recalled that he constituted a Civil Service committee, headed by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, immediately he assumed office to work with a retired World Bank Consultant, Professor Ladipo Adamolekun, to produce a blue-print on how to improve the quality of civil service delivery for better productivity.

Meantime, the state has approved a  social security scheme to take care of aged people who are 65 years and above

The state Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation , Hon Funminiyi Afuye, disclosed this in Ado Ekiti yesterday.

He said the scheme would provide regular income for indigent senior indigenes of the state and to give succour to the elders “who laboured without any financial means to fall back on.”

Fayemi had on October 1, 2011 announced payment of N5,000 monthly stipend to each of the elderly in the state. Over 52,000 of them were enumerated recently in the state.