NASS DIRECTORATE OF INTER-PARLIAMENTARY RELATIONS CELEBRATES RETIRING STAFF, AS PERM,SEC GODWIN EKPEYONG COMMENDS THEM FOR EXEMPLARY SERVICE AND UTMOST DEDICATION TO DUTY.It was a day filled with celebration, felicitations, joy excitement and thanksgivings to the Almighty God as the management and staff of the Directorate of Inter-Parliamentary Relations and Protocol of the National Assembly held a farewell/send forth party for three retiring deputy directors; Yakubu Tulu, Mrs Florence Fofah and Augustine Eseke who served the nation with all sense of integrity, honour and vigour over the course of their long, eventful and fulfilling public service career. The well attended event held on the 27th August 2024 at the National Assembly Complex was thronged by numerous NASS staff and management, friends, well wishers and relatives of the three celebrants including the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Sani Tambuwal; the Secretary of the Directorate, Chief Godwin Ekpeyong; Danladi Mshelia, a Deputy Director as well as other staff, visitors, guests and well wishers. Messages of goodwill, commendation and well wishes were rendered by numerous staff present who attested to the hardwork, perseverance, resilience and competence of the three retirees and prayers were also rendered to the Almighty God for His guidance, blessings and protection for them in their post-retirement years. A visibly elated Chief Godwin Ekpeyong, the Directorate boss lauded the diligence of the celebrants during their long service years: ‘We really appreciate the meritorious service of our retiring compatriots, Mr Augustine Eseke, Mrs Florence Fofah and Mr Yakubu Tulu and that is why we are organizing a befitting send forth ceremony to thank them on behalf of the federal government, the Chairman of the National Assembly and the Clerk to the National Assembly for the profound services they have rendered to their fatherland and the National Assembly in particular during the years. Their public service career has been one of sacrifice, commitment and dedication to the good of this country so it is fitting that we organise this event to thank them for their service as well as support them with our token as a show of our gratitude for their loyalty, hard work and dedication to duty. My send forth message to them is that they should display the same level of dedication, diligence and commitment to duty they have exhibited in service, and even at a higher level, in whatever they do out of service. They should continue to exhibit those sterling traits of exemplary performance and meritorious achievement that saw them through in service so that they can continue to excel in their post retirement years. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours’- an upbeat Chief Ekpeyong added.Also, Mr Danladi Mshelia, a Deputy Director with the Directorate praised the dedicated work ethos of the celebrating retirees: ‘For one to retire with sound health and also to exit the service in good health is a blessing because many people started the journey but along the way due to resignation, dismissal, ill-health or death exited the service before their due date but we thank God for this day that our three dedicated Deputy Directors, Yakubu Tulu, Augustine Eseke and Mrs Florence Fofah were able to retire as and when due. We are very proud of them as they have contributed a lot in terms of dedication to their duties, in terms of hard work and in terms of sincerity, honesty and integrity. If you talk of punctuality, these are people that don’t shy away from their responsibilities. Give them work, they will do it with all their heart and we are definitely going to miss them because the younger generation of staff and even some of us who are on the same level with them have a lot to learn from them being that they entered the service before us and have some nuggets of experience to impart to us as well. Honestly, their exit from service is a kind of pain to us because we will miss them a lot but the joyful part is that we pray that the Almighty God that has brought them so far will also guide, protect and bless them forever’ – Danladi Mshelia added.