3rd April, 2018
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has charged civil servants in the state to eliminate all forms of waste in the system.
Ambode spoke on Tuesday while declaring open a two-day training for civil servants in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
The governor said reducing wastage would certainly lead to increase in productivity.
“The Lagos State Civil Service has come a long way in reducing waste while increasing productivity. This is partly the result of the extensive investments in knowledge and skills by this administration,” he said.
Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Benson Oke said that the importance of eliminating waste could not be over-emphasised.
According to him, “Countless studies have shown that, with good and sound processes relating to management of time and resources, one finds that meagre resources can be extended to produce outstanding results. In other words, organisations and individuals can achieve more with less.
“Therefore, the ultimate objective of this training is to identify and codify the methods, means, and strategies for ensuring that the Lagos State Civil Service is positioned to do more with less. At the end of this training, the Lagos State Civil Service and her officers should be able to produce even more outstanding results with less money, less personnel, and in less time.
“This, at the end of the day, is ultimate productivity. Furthermore, it frees up resources, both human and capital, for investment in other competing fronts for the benefit of the good people of Lagos State.”
The governor said that to succeed, public-sector organizations must find a way to align their growth strategy—providing new and better services at limited cost—with a regard for the interests of their workers.
“Although lean programmes may cut the number of public-sector jobs over time, the goal is to make the remaining ones more rewarding. Incentives come from the prospect of more meaningful work, potentially with room for greater autonomy or a chance to develop new skills.
“I will urge all participants in this training to actively participate in the discussions and to contribute meaningfully to realizing the objectives of this training. It is in our corporate interest to do so. This is because, if the Lagos State Civil Service is able to perfect the art of lean management and operations, the service will become able to eliminate the so-called “Three Sources of Loss,” which are waste, variability, and inflexibility,” he said.
Ambode noted that a lean operational system would also ensure that the Lagos State Civil Service created and maintained the beneficial ability to improve itself constantly by bringing problems to the surface and resolving them, adding that in this area, the public sector often found itself in a weaker starting position when compared to private sector entities, with gaps in skills and entrenched mind-sets.
He said the adoption of a lean operational system would help the Lagos State Civil Service adopt a performance culture, saying this because, “when improving long-term performance is the goal, changing the process or the operating system will not suffice. The organization’s culture must also change.”