Date: 2016-08-29

develop beyond the capacity of its public service, Ali said "unfortunately, there is a broad consensus amongst Nigerians that our public service is both broken and dysfunctional.

"The quality of our public servants and the service they provide to the nation are below expectation. Unlike the days of yore, when only the best and brightest competed to join the administrative service, our public service is now seen as the employer of the dull, the lazy and the corrupt."

On the way forward, Ali called for training and re-training of civil servants to enable them adapt to modern trends. He said the civil service should be repositioned to be the information pool for government which commissioners and ministers should rely on for effective administration.

"With the current rate at which technology impacts on every aspect of the human life, I look forward to a public service aided by technology for a better service delivery to the populace. "The public service should be rebranded in such a manner that it will no longer be seen as a one stop shop for dull, lazy and corrupt officials."

In his remarks, the author of the book, Alhaji Shehu AbdulGafar, recalled how he rose from a clerk to the Head of Service and Secretary to Kwara state government. He said the qualities that emerged from the book would be a constant reminder to the readers that men and women of quality and integrity had once served Nigeria.

"The present and incoming generations need to emulate their good deeds and learn from their shortcomings to move our nation forw