You are in service to serve — Sanwo-Olu charges body of Permanent Secretaries
By Moses Adeniyi
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has charged the body of Permanent Secretaries in the State to be alive to their duties, stating that they are in office to attend responsively to the demands of the populace.
The Governor who gave the charge at the opening of a three day refreshing course tagged: “On Boarding and Executive Development Programme For Permanent Secretaries” mentioned that the sensitivity of the position of Permanent Secretaries necessitate why they have to be at the top of their job to offer the best deliverables of governance to the populace.
Governor Sanwo-Olu intimidated that the challenging experiences of the past one year since COVID-19 struck have necessitated ‘New Normals’ and realities demanding the Permanent Secretaries to responsively redefine their work approaches to keep governance running.
Mentioning that the last one year has been challenging and thereby instituting changes in social conducts across all spheres of life, he called for adjustment in governance processes to develop new measures for survival.
According to him, governance processes have to be creatively redesigned with new procedures that embrace measures of new realities such as working from home, having virtual meetings, among other measures to keep governance running.
The Governor who stressed that the position of Permanent Secretaries comes with lots of responsibilities given the expectations from them, challenged the Permanent Secretaries to use their position to make government move forward, calling them to maintain harmonious relationship with public officers in their respective jurisdiction.
Intimidating them that they are in service to serve the citizens, he mentioned they have the responsibility to work together to achieve the common goals of the administration, encouraging them to ensure their respective post of jurisdiction produces the best products to serve the people.
The Governor who called for self motivation for them to do more, implored them to develop harmonious relationships with their line directors, stating that such collaborative understanding is key to achieving results.
According to him, such culture of mutual engagement is prudent to achieve greater results against the culture of high handedness that breeds grievances.
He further mentioned that the strategies of broad engagement he had employed In his cabinet, has been productive in creating an atmosphere of belongingness which is essential for good governance.
He moreover, charged the Permanent Secretaries to see themselves as part of the Administration’s vision to deliver a greater Lagos, employing them to be responsive to the calls of the citizens for prompt services.
According to him, the Administration’s Policy thrust, the THEMES Agenda, should be learnt and understood extensively by the Permanent Secretaries as it affects each ministry to work at the best of their deliverables.
Reminding them of the time frame of the Administration, Governor Sanwo-Olu enjoined them to create and develop efficient working environment to provide the best achievable results.
“In less than three months, we will be half way in our government and that is why we want to implore you to see yourself as part of that Greater City dream in ensuring that we deliver the greater Lagos we have promised ourselves.
“Seriously, they (the populace) are not asking you things that are too difficult; they just want us to listen to them; they just want us to address them with services; they just want us to do it quicker, faster and better; they just want us to say to them that we are going to give to them all those houses in two months not in two years;
“They just want us when we say we are giving them the planning and building approval in 60 days, let it be in 60 days, not six years; let us say to them that our hospitals are proper places where they can come in, get treated and get well.
“Let us say to them that we are going to be providing roads and infrastructures for them; let us say to them that indeed we will be financially responsible; they just want us to publish our accounts. Let us just do it well,” he said.
He further implored them: “Let us say to ourselves I just want to make this office much better than I met it. I want to make it a lot stable, a lot better, and a lot worthy for my myself and for the citizens. You are the technocrat; you are that permanent general that we all look forth to.”
In his remarks, the State’s Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola said the Permanent Secretaries have no reason to fall short in the essence of the team building efforts with civil and public servants towards achieving the THEMES Agenda.
He assured the Governor of the body of Permanent Secretaries’ resolve to work to the best of their abilities in the course of unlearning, learning and re-learning initiative to achieve the essence of the policy thrust of the Administration.
“To whom much is given so much more is expected, under which we assure you that we will work tediously to the best of our abilities and deliver that vision that you have promised Lagosians that you would give to them,” he said.
Speaking on the refresher course, the Head of Service said: “In a similar vein, it provides an avenue for existing Permanent Secretaries not only to evaluate their current performances in their various MDAs with a view to bring about improvement but also to Serve as a refresher programme for existing Permanent Secretaries in some areas.
“In general, this Retreat is an intervention programme meant to expose the 21st Century Public Sector Executive Manager to new realities in managing and administering the modern Public Sector workplace and the new normal for effective service delivery, which is the essence of Governance.”
“I would like to express my profound appreciation to Mr. Governor for the dynamic leadership he has continued to provide, even at this crucial period and for approving this event, which he deems very crucial to the attainment of a Greater Lagos,” he added.
