Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde has pledged that his administration would continue to prioritise human capacity development for civil/public servants in the state, so they could compete favorably with their counterparts in other states of the federation.
Makinde stated this, on Tuesday, while declaring open a 6-day human capacity building training for senior officers in the civil/public service of Oyo State, organised by the Ministry of Establishments and Training, in collaboration with Klover Harris Innovative Solutions (KHIS) which held at the Ibadan Business School, Ibadan.
The Governor explained that when his administration came on board, the staff morale was at its lowest due to the embargo on virtually all staff welfarist programmes, maintaining that his administration saw the embargo as counterproductive, retrogressive and not in the interest of the workforce of the state and so went ahead to lift it immediately.
He stated that his administration had approved, in principle, the immediate general renovation of the Simeon Adebo Staff Development Center, which had been abandoned by past administrations in the state, so that the government would have a ready venue for such trainings, thereby cutting cost and ensuring that the civil servants employed to work in the center would have something to do.
“For the civil/public servants in Oyo State, this training is not too surprising because it actually falls within what we promised the civil service. You are the engine room of whatever programme or policies we want to implement. As an administration, if you are not carried along and you are not properly trained and exposed, it means we will be wasting our time because you are the ones to implement whatever we want to do.” Makinde said.
’’One thing that is unique, which I also want you to pay attention to is that Nigeria and even this state, are going through serious economic challenges right now. The soft things you can throw out through the window are things like this training; like welfare for workers. But for us, we will continue to prioritise human capacity in Oyo State,” the governor affirmed.
He equally charged the participants to apply the knowledge acquired from the training to their day-to-day activities at work, saying they should do their best for their state and his administration would continue to create opportunities.
Makinde said “This is a political season and people will come and try to confuse you. They will say salary payment is not an achievement. But obviously, we are also doing projects and developing infrastructure all across the state. We are expanding our economy and making life better for every citizen and resident of the state.”
Training
The Commissioner for Establishments and Training, Alhaji Siju Lawal, stated in his opening remarks, that since the inception of the Makinde-led administration, the Ministry had trained a total of 9200 workers in various aspects of office practices and the present training would involve 200 participants in 2 batches of 100 participants per batch, saying the various pieces of training have had a positive impact on staff and in the service delivery of the state.
He stated that the training is aimed at inculcating ideal career ethical values, principles, rules and regulations in the officers, expanding the knowledge of the officers in Computer Microsoft Word Office and making them much more efficient and effective for the overall improvement of the state public/civil service.
Lawal urged the participants to make the best use of the training as it would form part of their Annual Performance Evaluation Reports for their subsequent elevation on the job.
Olusola Akintonde
