In a bid to evaluate the implementation of the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda, the Lagos State Resilience Office (LASRO) on Tuesday organised a workshop to appraise the performance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the state government.
In his welcome address, LASRO’s Chief Resilience Officer, Arc Gbolahan Oki, said the workshop was designed to determine how far the government has been able to deliver the dividends of democracy to the citizenry and institutionalise good governance, through policy implementation.
He noted that periodic evaluation became necessary in order to ascertain the level of progress made by various agencies, adding that such evaluation would enable MDAs to know areas of satisfactory performance and those that require improvement and upscale of infrastructure development for sustainable growth.
His words: “This workshop is symbolic in two ways. One, it aims at evaluating the implementation of initiatives in the Lagos Resilience Strategy (LRS) by the concerned MDAs, with a view to ascertaining the progress of the State towards achieving efficiency in public service delivery and good governance.
“Secondly, the workshop will enable MDAs to know their areas of strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of their LRS initiatives, thereby preparing them to re-strategise and double their efforts in the implementation of their core LRS mandates."
While emphasising the need for training and retraining of the workforce for greater efficiency in service delivery, the Chief Resilience Officer noted that since sustainable development initiatives are driven by civil servants, there would always be the need for a regular training to build capacity for greater productivity and efficiency.
He explained further that the state government had scaled-up the implementation of its resilience initiatives among MDAs, just as the recognition of the State as one of the 100 resilience cities in the world is a challenge to work harder.
Oki explained that the state government had developed a Lagos State Resilience Strategy policy document after wide consultations and engagements with research institutions, business communities, civil society organisations and community leaders, saying that the LRS framework for implementing projects will protect the city against future shocks and stress, while the priority for efficient service delivery and good governance are set.
Urging resilience liaison officers from different MDAs to actively participate in the workshop to assist their agencies in determining areas of weakness, Oki charged them to feel free and not consider their MDAs’ rating as a witch-hunt or a means of persecuting them, adding that the workshop was an objective evaluation of policy implementation without sentiments.
In his remarks, Engr Saheed Mabadeje, representing the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, commended the state government for approving the workshop, stressing that the initiative has helped to bring different MDAs together to assess their performance and go back to the drawing board with a view to improving on public service delivery.
Another participant, Dr Oyeyemi Ogunjobi, who represented the Lagos State Ministry of Health, noted that the workshop would help different agencies of government work together toward achieving a common goal of engendering good governance.
The workshop was well attended by representatives of about 20 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government across the State.
