Ambode charges civil servants on transparency and accountability

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday charged senior civil servants to embrace transparency and accountability which his administration stood for.

Ambode, who spoke while flagging off two-day workshop for about 100 civil servants in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said since the citizens expected the government to comply with global best practices in democratic governance, the issue of transparency and accountability thus became imperative.

“It is my hope that, after this training, many of you would be in a position to advise the government on the specific reform steps that are necessary to align current practices in the Lagos State Civil Service with contemporary trends in business leadership,” he said.

Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Benson Oke stated that complying with global best practices would increase government transparency and accountability.

“Informing citizens of government spending, especially if done on a regular basis, is an effective way for government to fulfill its responsibility of being transparent and accountable. These types of initiatives can also reduce outside opportunities for negative speculation looking to undermine the work of a particular administration.

“Another obtainable best practice is participatory budgeting. This is a practice whereby a government reserves funds from the annual budget and allows citizens to determine the allocation of these resources. Working alongside government representatives, citizens discuss and determine community needs and priorities, and subsequently identify projects (or programmes) to address these. Participation is not limited to organized civil society, but rather is open to all citizens,” he said.

He said this approach engaged citizens in the decision-making processes of the government, saying that providing citizens a direct voice in the budgeting process allowed for their meaningful involvement in decisions that directly affect their communities.

The governor said by allowing citizens to participate in prioritizing development projects in their communities, the government could additionally foster citizen buy-in and ownership of local projects which could significantly increase acceptance of development initiatives within a community.

Ambode further said complying with best global practice would improve government efficiency, adding that providing the necessary information for common processes and procedures in an easy-to-use resource could reduce the number of people in lines at government offices, and allow government staff to spend more time helping citizens complete processes and less time providing instructions.

Also speaking, Permanent Secretary, Office of Establishments and Training, Folashade Ogunnaike urged the trainees to pay more attention to the training and ensure that they internalize what they were being taught.

The governor said that without an iota of doubt, all stakeholders agreed that the delivery of value to citizens was the fundamental objective of any democratically-elected government and that in contemporary times, the delivered value must be delivered to the highest possible standard because citizens had become sophisticated and exposed to the standards of governance in other climes such that their expectations had been conditioned to demand and insist on compliance with global trends in governance and public administration at all levels of governance.