Civil Servants in Ogun State have been enjoined to embrace healthy nutrition, in order to be more productive and efficient in the discharge of their duties.
Full time Commissioner 1 in the State Civil Service Commission, Alhaji Surajudeen Olusesi, made this known while delivering a key note address during the year 2018 quarterly in-house training for workers with the theme, ‘’Healthy Nutrition for Healthy Workforce,’’ held at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Olusesi maintained that sustenance of healthy nutrition would improve the workforce, which according to him would strengthen their capabilities to discharge their duties effectively.
‘’Eating good food improves good health. It makes one not to fall sick often. Without good nutrition, the minds and the body cannot function well and the foundation of social economy and cultural life will be undermined,’’ Olusesi said
Speaking in an interview, the Permanent Secretary in the Civil Service Commission, Mrs. Amope Chokor, said the training was aimed at educating the State workforce in order to help them identify the benefits of healthy nutrition to their bodies.
She enjoined the participants to enlighten their colleagues who were unable to attend the programme, so as to achieve the purpose of the training.
In his lecture, a lecturer from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Yemi Olayiwola, said good nutritional status leads to higher individual earnings through increased productivity and mental activities, which in turn, supports macro-economic and societal growth.
She added that healthy nutrition involves giving extra care and attention to food consumption and ensuring that food eaten contained adequate nutrients to keep an individual healthy and improve quality of life, pointing out that, healthy workforce are those who have access and right to healthy nutrition to perform their duties.
Prof. Olayiwola stressed the need for public servants to be enlightened on food choices and dietary guides, so as to maintain normal nutritional status and prevent chronic nutrition related diseases.
One of the participants, the TRACE Corps Commandant, Mr Seni Ogunyemi said the purpose of attending the programme was to build capacity through good balance diet, commending the effort of the organiser for coming up with such training.
Another participant, Olukoga Emmanuel, from the office of the Head of Service, said the training was timely and promised to explore the lessons learnt at the programme to his advantage, as well as give a short summary of the training to colleagues in the office.
