24th September, 2019
The Lagos State Government has challenged civil servants to be determined to change the negative narratives usually attributed to government workers.
Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle stated this at the weekend during the opening session of a strategic Retreat organized for Heads of Units and Departments in the Ministry and agencies under the supervision of the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions at NECA House, Alausa, Ikeja.
Ponnle, who recalled the dignifying nature of public service in the past, stated that all hands must be on deck to revert to the good old days when people were always willing and anxious to be identified with government institutions.
According to the Commissioner, the present administration had a laudable plan to make Lagos a 21st Century economy in consonance with T.H.E.M.E.S (Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, Entertainment and Tourism, and Security and Governance).
She said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has charged the Ministry to support this mandate, develop plans and policies to ensure this is driven by a 21st Century enabled workforce.
Ponnle added that the coming together of the entire family of the Ministry comprising Office of Establishments and Training ,Lagos State Pensions Commission, (LASPEC), Public Service Staff Development Centre(PSSDC)and Civil Service Pensions Office(CSPO) was aimed at sharing a combined vision and pursue their mandates with uniformity and in consonance with the project T.H.E.M.E.S. of the administration.
She said that the Ministry occupied a very strategic position as their activities cut across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs and all the six strategic pillars of focus of the present administration, therefore creating a foundation on which these pillars will rest on.
‘’Our aim as a Ministry, working in partnership with other relevant MDAs, is to ensure the engine of governance, which is driven by its people, working efficiently and effectively to ensure the plans become our collective reality.’’
The Commissioner expressed the need for officials of the Ministry to see themselves as the beacons of change needed within the entire public service and be aware that their actions and inactions impacted the entire workforce.
The Permanent Secretary, Office of Establishments and Training, Mr. Abiodun Bamgboye, explained that the retreat was intended to further strengthen the strategies for the delivery of the assigned responsibilities for the Ministry and all the agencies under its supervision.
He urged the staff to embrace a people-centric approach in their relationship with both its internal and external stakeholders and also begin to own the vision of a 21st century digital workforce.