INNOVATIVE CHALLENGE FOR CIVIL SERVANTS: ONDO SUBEB DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNT SHINES AT COMPETITION

By Dupson Collins, 5th December, 2022

The Management and Staff of the Ondo State Universal Basic Education Board, (SUBEB) has joined other well wishers to celebrate the Director of Account of the board, Mrs Omobola Oladipo on the laudable feat recorded at the just concluded Innovative Challenge For Civil Servants Competition in Ondo State.

The Chartered Accountant was the only female participant in the competition that made it to final, winning the best third in an excruciating intellectual shaping contest for all Civil Servants in the State.

The competition was tagged “Innovative Challenge For Civil Servants”.

To many of the staff of the Board, the feat recorded by Mrs Omobola Oladipo didn’t come as a surprise judging by the outstanding performances of pupils and teachers that have made the Agency proud in various competitions even at the National level in the outgoing year.

” This current feat, is an icing on the cake of the Board and it worthy to be celebrated. So many were not surprised when encomium started pouring in from within and outside the Agency. It was a welcome development; a good one indeed”.

Speaking on behalf of the Board, Hon Saka Yusuf Ogunleye, a Full Time Member of the Board who cannot hide his joy for the feat described the performance of the Director of Accounts in the competition as another feather to the cap of the Board considering the successes recorded in the outgoing year under the leadership of Rt Hon Victor Olabimtan.

He disclosed further that, Mrs Omobola Oladipo success at the Civil Servants Innovative Challenge is a pointer to the fact that there are many hidden talents in the Public Service that must be discovered.

“Innovative competitions like this will bring the best out of many, signalling a better days ahead of quality service delivery by Civil Servants”.

In the same vein, the Permanent Secretary, Dele Akinnagbe was not surprised with the breakthrough recorded by the Board Accountant, describing her as a diligent woman who prioritize her job with better service delivery.

He added that Oladipo has not only add value to herself but has succeeded in bringing another honour to the Board.

Chatting with the PATH at the presentation of the Certificate of Participation, Mrs Oladipo attributed the success to God Almighty and diligence in training she had received as a Chartered Accountant and financial expert.

In her words:” I did not see the feat as anything extraordinary; I only did what I was hired to do. To think of outside the box and be proactive. I took the challenge as a normal run of the mill assignment without doing or expecting anything special”, She stated.

She noted that, to stand out in any competition, one needs to be proactive and think outside the box.

According to her, ” While analysing the REDEEMED AGENDA of the present administration critically, I came up with an innovative idea of one page Executive Summary tagged: “One Community. One Commodity” which is designed to encourage each community in the state to concentrate on one Agricultural Product which has comparative advantage over others”.

Mrs Oladapo added that, she just participated in the competition like any other officers and was elated when her paper was adjudged as one of the best five participants that made it to the final.

“Four of these finalists were males & she was the only female that made it to oral presentation which was the final before some eminent personalities which include Secretary to the State Government Prince Oladunmi Odu, the Head of Service Kayode Ogundele and Special Adviser to the Governor on Union Matters Dare Aragbaye to mention a few.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the competition disclosed that, aside presentation of Certificate of Participation given to the top three finalists, each of them will also go home with cash award.

The First position was given N300,000, Second, N200,000 and the last went home with N100,000 which was presented to them by Ondo State Governor Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON during the grand finale of this Civil Service Week held at the international Cultural Centre, The DOME, Alagbaka Akure.

The Civil Servants Innovative Challenge was organized by Performance and Project Implementation Monitoring Unit, PPIMU Governor’s Office and office of the Head of Service to exploit innovative ideas from Civil Servants on how to achieve some of the salient points in the current administration REDEEMED AGENDA Programmes of actions