6th December, 2010
Determined to ensure accountability in governance, the Lagos State government has sent its Permanent Secretaries back to school to learn the procedures of efficient service delivery.
The one-day retreat was organised by the Office of Transformation, Lagos State Governor’s Office with the theme: State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability.
The state government collaborated with the United Kingdom government to train the permanent secretaries on accountability and transparency.
The Director-General, Office of Transformation, Lagos State Governor’s Office, Mr. Toba Otusanya, said the initiative was created to enhance government’s capacity in the area of reform and effective policy formulation.
“The transformation Office has found it necessary now to train senior staff in the cadres of directors and permanent secretaries to enable them understand the new strategies being put in place to transform the state,†he said.
According to him, the training would enable the permanent secretaries to effectively fit into development of responsive policies and strategies for present and future economic growth.
“It emphasises how to manage public finances well by introducing to the service more effective workforce,†he added.
He urged the permanent secretaries to be drivers of change and champions of good governance in their respective ministries in order to aid the transformation process in the state.
The DG advocated the acceptance of the trends in public sector reform and the importance of embracing human resources which has a strategic pro-active approach to management of people with greater autonomy over the usual personnel management which “is just a series of reactive administrative tasks that enables the basic day-to-day employment contract to be fulfilled.â€
Head of Service, Adesegun Ogunlewe said that the permanent secretaries and directors would be ready to face any challenge the transformation might bring, describing the training as a good initiative, which would not only help the state civil service but every staff that had the opportunity to undergo the programme.
“We are prepared to give our best for the transformation. We are not afraid because we work like a team in Lagos. The permanent secretary will work with his directors as a team to succeed in the new task at hand,†he said.
