Ayodele Olalere
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has urged Permanent Secretaries in the state civil service to brace up for challenges ahead in order to deliver quality public services to the people.
While declaring open a three day Retreat tagged ‘On-Boarding and Executive Development Programme for Permanent Secretaries’ for the 57 Perm. Secs. in the state, at Lagos Continental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, the governor said the need to deliver on the promises made to Lagosians prompted his administration to appoint 30 new Permanent Secretaries since the administration came on board almost two years ago so as to complement the already existing 27.
“We have appointed new 30 Permanent Secretaries since we came on board. COVID-19 has not stopped us from serving our people and having the whole essence of governance.
Being Permanent Secretaries is an enviable position that comes with a lot of responsibilities, because it also has a lot of expectations from the leadership and the people, ” said Governor Sanwo-Olu.
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“We are all in public service, what is driving us as government is the promise we have made to our citizens. We are in the service to serve the citizenship.
Working together collaboratively can only be to the benefit of our citizens and what we stand for.
For us as a government, we have programmes, agenda, we have vision that we have set out. You need to give yourself self inspirational motivation to do a bit more,” he added.
He urged them to seek ideas from their line directors, so as to enhance their activities.
“Our Lagos is a global Lagos, the citizens are more charged, they are more engaging, they are more daring, there are more questions they are asking of us, meaning that what we have said to them that this is who we are. We want to develop the state, we want to build a future together, working with you.
“Let us in each of our ministry attend to the demands of the citizens. See yourself as part of that bigger team and ensuring you can deliver a Greater Lagos that we promised our citizens.
“The citizens are not asking for things that are too difficult, they just want us to listen to them more, they just want us to address them on the services which they are paying, they just want us to do it quicker, faster and better.
“We should make our workplace a lot better than we met it,”Sanwo-Olu further said.
In his address, the Head of Service (HOS), Hakeem Muri-Okunola said the 3-Day Retreat is “a deviation from previous Induction programmes held for new-appointed Permanent Secretaries as it will serve to close the competency gaps observed during the selection process.
“The Retreat will therefore equip onboarding appointees with the skills and competencies needed to succeed in the Office of the Permanent Secretary.
It provides an avenue for existing Permanent Secretaries not only to evaluate their current performances in their various MDAs with a view to bring about improvement but also to serve as a refresher programme for existing Permanent Secretaries in some areas.”
The HOS said the Retreat would help to expose the Permanent Secretaries “to new realities in managing and administering the modern Public Sector workplace and the new normal for effective service delivery, which is the essence of Governance.
He urged the Permanent Secretaries, “to take full advantage of the opportunity provided by this Retreat to Learn, Unlearn and Relearn.”
