Lagos State Government has said that it will continue to invest massively in enhancing the performance of its workforce through continual international training so that the state civil servants can compete favourably with other virile public service institutions across the globe.

The Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, stated this at the opening ceremony of a training programme tagged ‘Leadership and Change Management’ for directors in the state public service in collaboration with Human Capital Management and Solutions Limited at Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac.

He said government intends to continually sponsor more staff to local and international seminars, workshops and conferences to acquire the necessary cutting edge and best practices experience needed towards a functional, proactive and secured megacity.

According to the commissioner, “The State Government’s funding for staff training was increased significantly this year while a learning and development template was also adopted based on knowledge-gap identification and need to bridge the identified gaps.”

The commissioner maintained that building a public service that is well structured, organised and staffed with highly motivated officers with relevant skills, knowledge and attitude requires training and retraining of its workforce.

Describing civil servants as critical mass in the development agenda of the state, the Commissioner added that the State Government, being mindful of the fact that the mindset of the workforce is key to service delivery, renewed its commitment to developing leaders who are creative and innovation-inclined for sustenance of the mega city status of the state.

“This workshop is as a result of Governor Ambode’s desire to put in place a vibrant public service that will drive the machinery of government through change, superior strategy formulation for value creation, enhance quality decision making and drive innovation for excellence,” Oke said.

“Government is systematically instilling in the workforce knowledge that would move the public service from the hitherto informing mode of operation to consultative, with the ultimate aim of making the public service more involving, collaborating and public empowering,” he added.

•Photo shows Governor Ambode.

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