The Ondo State Head of Service (HoS) Bayo Philip, yesterday said the new extant rules guiding the public service in the state have dismissal and criminal prosecution for offence of sexual harassment in the service.

He said this yesterday in Akure during the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries of the South-West. He said the state had reviewed its civil service rules and policies in order to meet up with the expectations of the public.

According to him, the reviewed civil service has increased maternity leave from three months to six months, while there is a provision for paternity leave of two weeks.

The HoS said the service, with its new mantra: “don’t deliver short and don’t deliver late”, was aimed to align with the 21st Century of the public service with greater output.

Philip, who said the state, which has 42,000 staff strength with 13,000 pensioners, had no arrears of staff promotion. Also speaking, the state Chairman of the association, Mojisola Ajayi, appealed to all South-West governors to rejig the civil service by eliminating dysfunctionality and restoring efficiency to meet the people’s needs.