Ondo State civil servants have been urged to maintain government properties adequately in order to reduce maintenance cost on assets.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa gave this advice at a stakeholders seminar organised for Ministries, Extra-ministerial Departments and Agencies (MEDAs) and the state branch of the National Association of Auctioneers held in Akure, the state capital.

Akinterinwa said the seminar was to identify the need for individuals to be more cautious with the use of government properties in their care and procedure of listing them for auctioning if they become unserviceable.

He said the theme for the seminar, “Proper Maintenance of Government Properties and Documentation Process” will impact on the civil servants as to profer the best procedure to ensure proper management of government assets.

He observed that government officials have not been cautious in handling government properties and assets with the best global practices as well as the need to reduce maintenance cost to improve revenue generation drive.

His words, ” This present administration has put a lot of efforts in place to ensure that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) improves and ensure good service delivery. It is imperative that every government official should ensure that government properties are adequately maintained.

” Where a particular item of inventory is found to be impaired or worn-out, it should be recommended for auctioning by the Board of Survey,” he stressed.

The Director of the Ministry, Mrs Monisola Olaoye explained that three agencies of ministries were involved in auctioning, pointing to the Accountant General’s office, Auditor General’s office and the Ministry of Finance.

After informing the finance ministry, Olaoye said the tripartite ministries would look into the items to know if they were properly priced and did the needful before auctioning.

She noted that only qualified auctioneers who had paid their dues were authorised to perform the auctioning, while the money would be paid into the coffers of the state government within seven days after auctioning.

The seminar took participants through three presentations on,” The Responsibilities and Roles of Public Administration in Store Management and Inventory Control System (ICS), “Management and Effective Utilization of Government Assets and Properties through Due Process” and “Role and Responsibilities of Auctioneers in Government Revenue Generation through Public Auctioneering.”