22nd December, 2019
Lagos State Government has said that it will continue to explore ways of expanding the capacity of its Public Service Staff Development Centre, PSSDC, to consistently provide human capacity development needed to achieve its vision of the 21st century economy.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who disclosed this during the 25 years anniversary of PSSDC, acknowledged the huge role the Centre had played in producing competent leaders in different professions who had and still contributing to the development of the State and Nigeria as a whole.
Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Secretary to the State Government at the event, Mrs. Folashade Jaji said that as part of ways of giving the Centre needed impetus for expansion, his administration is already considering upgrading of PSSDC to a University status, mainly for human capacity development to assist government officials with requisite training.
He added that though the Centre had maintained its leading position as an Institute for human capacity development in Nigeria, Sanwo-Olu added that it was time for PSSDC to aspire to take the lead across the continent of Africa.
Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions, Mrs Ajibola Ponnle, said the present administration was poised to continue to boost the capacity of the State Public Service to keep it ahead of other Public Services in Nigeria.
She stated that “by this, the administration believes that Lagos will be able to face squarely, the existential threat arising from the interplay of demographic and climate change as well as those from the continued levels of migration that continue to put phenomenal strain on the physical and fiscal resources of the State.”
Ponnle said that the government has planned to ensure that training becomes more 21st Century compliant in the State with the Introduction of a Learning Management System (LMS) to allow for greater Participation of trainees in different training interventions.
“Since the inception of this Great Citadel of Learning, PSSDC has trained and re-trained a total number of 66,700 public service officers and some managers in the Private Sector and organized not less than 2,300 Courses,” Ponnle stated.
Director-General of PSSDC, Dr. Senukon Ajose-Harrison disclosed that PSSDC was seeking to deepen its partnership with the International Professional Managers Association (IPMA-UK), Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI) Israel and University of Stellenbosch Business School (South Africa).
Other efforts aimed at internationalism include opening lines of communication with Kennedy School of Government, United States of America and RIPA International, United Kingdom.
Highlighting some of the areas in need of more attention, the Director-General requested for adequate funding and release of funds for global capacity building for GL.01 – 12 officers in the State through the Centre.
“There is need for adequate staffing and funding for capacity building of the Centre’s staff, appropriate technology to boost capacity to digitalise training and development, centralisation of capacity building goals through the dethronement of proliferation of Training schools and Centres by various Government Agencies” Dr. Ajose-Harrison reiterated.
He informed that the Centre was now more prepared to further expand the scope of its contributions to the capacity building community of practice in Lagos State, Nigeria and beyond.
“As internal consultants to the State Government on capacity building, we remain committed to serving the capacity building needs of the State Public Service even as we seek to proffer human capacity solutions with a view to boosting returns on the investment of Government.” the DG reaffirmed.