31st January, 2019
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday warned civil servants in the state against wastage in the midst of daunting economic challenges.
The governor spoke while declaring open, a two-day workshop for top government officials in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Benson Oke said the importance of eliminating waste could not be over-emphasised, stressing that countless studies had shown that with good and sound processes relating to management of time and resources, one found that meagre resources could be extended to produce outstanding results, adding, “in other words, organisations and individuals can achieve more with less.”
The governor said government knew that impatient electorates expected to see change, and fast, but that the funds required to meet such expectations were enormous, explaining that the need to get value for money from governments at all levels was therefore under the spotlight as never before.
“It would be a great achievement if the Lagos State Civil Service is able to import the principles of lean operations from the private sector and apply them to the operations of the public sector. Team work and synergy hold the key to maximum and ultimate performance,” Ambode stated.
Ambode also argued that there were some who underestimated the value and importance of synergy and team work, saying that if properly embraced, he was confident that the Lagos State Civil Service would be on the path to being re-positioned for higher effectiveness and responsibilities.
Speaking, Professor Mike Kupolati, one of the speakers at the training, said the aim of the workshop was to ensure that the state civil service was better equipped in helping to move the state forward, even as he lauded Ambode for investing heavily in training and retraining of civil servants in Lagos to make them compare favourably with their counterparts in developed world.
Carla Massoud, a French-Lebanese lecturer commended the state government for initiating workshops like this to train and re-train the Lagos civil service workforce.
Massoud said the Lagos State Government needed to always develop the capacity of her civil servants so that they could compare with their counterparts in any part of the world.