The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Mrs Georgina Ehuriah-Arisa, is set to launch a book titled “On Merit” to boost the morale of the Federal Public Servants.
The book is to encourage them to always strive for their career progression, strictly on merit, and not only to improve productivity and service delivery to Nigerians.
The Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Interior, Muhammed Manga, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
Ehuriah-Arisa stated that the book was a way of giving back to a system which had given her the privilege to serve and get rewarded accordingly.
“Writing a book that puts my life out there has required a special kind of courage. It is a way of giving back to a system that gave me the privilege to serve and rewarded me for that service.
“I have always prided myself on the fact that the single most important factor that drives my action is courage,” she said.
She, however, called on the Federal Civil Servants in the country to remain focused and always exhibit highest degree of courage in the discharge of their official responsibilities.
Ehuria-Arisa stated further that it was courage that made her run into a burning building to retrieve important work documents that would have been destroyed during the fire that engulfed the Independence Building.
The building, according to her, housed the Ministry of Defence as well as Armed Services Headquarters in 1993.
“I decided to pen down my autobiography, so as to offer an insight to those public servants who would like to excel in their career strictly on merit.
“On Merit offers an insight into the Federal Civil Service, its very heart and soul; reforms, what it takes to climb and survive the tortuous corporate ladder and how to expand one’s capabilities along the way to the top,”
The former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Ebele Okeke, described her as an embodiment of all the qualities required of any Federal Public Servant to excel in his or her carrier on merit.
“Ehuriah-Arisa embodies all the qualities I have been urging both the male and female staff of the Federal Civil Service to embrace.
“She made a lot of sacrifices to build herself up to meet the challenges that would crop up in modern civil service,” Okeke said.
Ehuriah-Arisa is one of Nigeria’s most highly decorated civil servants, having received the National Honour of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), the National Productivity Order of Merit Award (NPOM), among others.
The book will be unveiled at Rotunda Hall, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja on Thursday.
