16th July, 2018
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
In preparation to attain Smart City status, the Lagos State Government has harped on the continuous need to develop the depth and capacity of human resource commissions, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs across public service.
Head of Service, HOS, Mrs Folasade Adesoye said this on Monday while declaring open a two-day retreat for Human Resource Commissions and related MDAs in the State Public Service, held in Epe area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
The theme of the Retreat is “Transforming Governance towards sustaining a United Public Service, through the Integration of Practices and Automation of Data Management across Commissions.”
She said the theme was chosen in a conscious and deliberate effort to underscore the critical important of Human Resource Management, HRM, function to the efficiency and effectiveness of public service apparatus and institutions as a whole, in view of the fact that the challenges of HRM were complex and demanding.
“It is therefore very important that HRM practitioners understand the range of issues involved in the management of human resource in environments such as the public service. The significant shift in the quantum of critical knowledge, competence and skills sets that is required in HR practice today would suggest that the success of HR managers in the near future will depend on the degree to which they re-imagine, re-strategise and re-energise,” she said.
The HOS said during the first edition of the Retreat in 2016, lots of issues were deliberated and resolved, adding that periodic re-appraisal and review of the HRM practice would ensure policy outcomes that were fit for purpose.
Adesoye said it was the expectations of government that the Retreat would help HRM practice statewide by facilitating uniform operational processes and procedures with respect to staff records and career management, as well as seamless interface with the State’s Pensions database.
“Apart from agenda setting on the statutory responsibility of HR Commissions and Boards, there is need to integrate the automation of data service-wide in a way that would not only achieve transferability, but concurrent accessibility by relevant MDAs as well as self-cleansing capability to detect error of entry,” she stated.
Speaking at the event, Permanent Secretary, Public Service Office, Bashir Braimah said the Retreat had been designed for consultation, collaboration, deliberation and interaction, adding that what was more challenging “is that we now operate a single and unified public service which allowed for fluidity across sectoral divides through vertical and horizontal mobility.”
“This development presupposes that all agencies must be on the same page using the same template, sharing vision, passion, dreams and realities. The need to cross fertilise ideas, share experiences and bask in the competence of one another is therefore compelling,” he said.
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