Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, on Saturday held his inaugural meeting with the Body of Permanent Secretaries in the State Public Service, where he explained that the state civil service will drive the change and the continuity which he intends to put in place in the next four years.
The governor, who spoke at the Lagos House, Alausa, said he intends to strengthen the civil service and continue with the reforms through which he would carry out his policies.
He urged the permanent secretaries, who are the administrative heads of the ministries, to see themselves as front runners of the present administration, adding that he would take advantage of the experience he had gathered as a retired public servant.
Ambode disclosed that new offices would be created while existing ones would be streamlined in order to ensure that cost of governance was reduced while ensuring greater efficiency.
He added, “Part of my speech at my inauguration ceremony yesterday(Friday) dwelt on the creation of a Ministry of Wealth Creation, which would ensure that not only do we create wealth but ensure that when investments from foreign sources drops, a pro-active situation is in place to take care of them.”
He said since the APC had already formed a government at the centre, investments were also bound to drop from the centre and that when such investments come, the state should have a front desk office that would attend to interested investors.
The governor also promised to do a revisitation of ministerial responsibilities of all ministries, departments and agencies, saying ministerial responsibilities were last reviewed in 2001.
Ambode stressed that he would saddle the Body of Permanent Secretary with the task of taking a look at the draft which the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola could not conclude work on and which he had gone through but streamlined according to his vision.
He said with what he had in mind, some agencies would be returned to their original supervising agencies to ensure that the control, which used to be in place for those agencies, returned.
He explained that he would ensure that Permanent Secretaries exercised the authority that comes with their positions efficiently and ensured that each officer worked for the position he had attained.
The governor insisted that his latest pronouncements were not about reinventing the wheel but just about taking full advantage of the experience he had garnered while in the public service of Lagos State.
“I would not be reinventing the wheel with my pronouncements, but just taking full advantage of the experience I have garnered while working in the public service of Lagos State,” he added.
He explained that in order to ensure effectiveness in his operations, he would be residing at the Lagos House, Alausa, saying that would ensure he would be report at his desk from 8am daily.
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