Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday said
his administration would initiate a process of an upward review of pension of
retired Permanent Secretaries in the State, just as he expressed the readiness
of the State Government to commence massive training of civil servants starting
from 2017.
Governor Ambode, who spoke at Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja
when he received the report of the 2016 Summit of Association of Lagos State
Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries, said the decision to review
the pension was borne out of the need to reward appropriately those who have
served the State meritoriously for several years.
While alluding to the years of experience of the retired
Permanent Secretaries, the Governor said his administration would tap into the
wealth of experience of the members of the association and use it to help the
civil service and also develop the State.
He said: "We will collaborate together more vigorously and
tap into your wealth of knowledge. We want to start this with our massive plan
starting from next year for capacity building for the largest civil service in
Nigeria, the Lagos Civil service. We will also use it as part of our own
development plan and imbibe this knowledge into the existing public service."
Speaking on the review of pension of members of the
association, Governor Ambode said the struggle for dignity of labour for civil
servants had been on for a while, but that it was time for it to be actualized.
According to the Governor, "We are going to look at the
pension of Permanent Secretaries positively because the whole essence is that
if people retire at that level, and those coming behind us, there must be
dignity in labour and then there must be some sense of fulfillment.
"That is why we must reward glowingly those who have served
the State meritoriously. When we go out and see all the beautiful things in
Lagos, we must realize that some people actually built those things and this is
the time to celebrate and reward them," he said.
He said over the past fifty years, Lagos had distinguished
itself as the only State that has continually progressed in a manner that
anybody would be proud of, adding that the progress was largely attributable to
civil servants both retired and the present ones, who he described as the best
in the country.
"What people don’t understand is that there is a culture of
excellence in the civil service; there is a culture of resilience; there is a
culture of capacity building which cannot be seen in the textbooks.
Besides, Governor Ambode said it was a thing of pride that a
member of the association is now the Governor of the State, which is a also a
pride to the civil service, adding that all necessary support would be given to
the association to further contribute to the development of the State.
Earlier, leader of the delegation and first Vice President
of the association, Alhaji Mohammed Ajibola Olagbeyi commended Governor Ambode
for his various developmental initiatives in the State, and su While reeling
out some of the recommendations in the report of the 2016 Summit of the
association, Olagbeyi said the group was satisfied with the utilization of the
Security Trust Fund, while it was recommended that Bi-annual security summit
should be held at the Local Government level.
He said the association recommended the Inspectorate
Department at Ministry of Local Government to ensure proper monitoring of Local
Government to achieve targets, as well as the re-establishment of the Teaching
Service Commission.
The association further recommended the reintroduction of
primary health care activities and establishment of blood banks in all
hospitals; strengthening of inter-modal transport system, and review and
harmonization of all environmental laws.
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