IBABAN -Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday swore in four newly appointed permanent secretaries to fill vacancies in the state’s top civil service cadre, reaffirming his administration’s commitment to merit, fairness and inclusiveness in public service appointments.
The governor, who spoke at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, said the appointments followed a transparent and competitive process designed to strengthen the leadership of the state civil service while ensuring equitable representation across Oyo State.
Speaking shortly after the appointees took their oaths of allegiance and office, Makinde said his administration would remain focused on governance and service delivery until its last day in office and would not abandon its responsibilities for politics.
According to a statement issued in Ibadan by his Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olarenwaju, the governor said, “When I said to the people of Oyo State that we will serve them until the last moment of the last day, this is exactly what we’re talking about. We won’t, because we’re campaigning all over the place, forget our responsibilities to the people of Oyo State.”
The governor explained that the selection process was based on a competitive examination, with 80 per cent of the appointments determined by merit and the remaining 20 per cent reserved for balancing considerations to ensure equity, inclusiveness and fair representation across the state.
According to him, “The process that produced the new permanent secretaries was fair and transparent.
“I can say boldly that the process of your becoming permanent secretaries has been fair. After taking 80 per cent based on merit, there is 20 per cent that we always use to balance things out.”
Makinde recalled that when he assumed office in 2019, there was no permanent secretary from the Ibarapa Zone, a situation his administration moved swiftly to address to ensure equitable representation across the state.
He noted that his administration was deliberate about ensuring that no zone was excluded from representation at the highest level of the civil service, stressing that the state’s common wealth belonged to all its people.
