Fides Media Living the Faith
By Ikeugonna Eleke
A retired journalist, Mr Jerry Osegbo, has admonished civil servants to avoid fraudulent practices, saying that people working in the civil service can still afford a good life, without committing fraud in their offices.
Osegbo, a journalist with Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS), stated this after a thanksgiving Mass at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Awka, where he celebrated his retirement from civil service.
Osegbo said, ‘Today, I’m thanking God for retiring from the civil service successfully. I progressed in the service according to the will of God, and I retired in good health, and without any blemish whatsoever, and I give thanks to God for this.
Mr Jerry Osegbo, a retired journalist with Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) and his wife, approach the altar at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, in thanksgiving to God for successful retirement
‘I thank Governor Willie Obiano for prompt payment of salaries, because I would not be celebrating today if I was not paid my salary. I’m a happy man. I want to tell people who see retirement as an evil thing not to do so.
‘Go and look at people who falsify their ages to avoid retirement, they hardly achieve much. What is key about civil service is planning; you have to plan yourself from the day you enter the service because you already know when you will retire, and you plan towards it.
‘You don’t have to emulate money bags, else you will commit fraud in your office. You can afford a good living with your salary, as a civil servant, except you want to compete with drug barons in terms of living.
‘As a civil servant, you can still afford a good living; get the basic necessities of life. You can get a house, you can get a car, you can also train your children in school. But the problem is your house, your car and your children’s school, must be within your salary, and you will be happy. Anything short of it, then you want to get into trouble,’ he counselled.
Journalists and other associates joined Osegbo to thank God for his retirement, while members of Catholic Charismatic Renewal – Jesus the Way Prayer Group, St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, also held a prayer session in his home to thank God further for his life in the service of the state.