By Zayamu Hassan
The Federal Government has urged Permanent Secretaries to aim at high performance and good governance, to make positive impact in the lives of Nigerians, socio-economic development and stability of the country.
Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan stated this in a keynote address she delivered at the opening of a retreat on “Leading Change and Building Institutional Legacy” held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.
The retreat, according to her, was organised to recalibrate the of civil servants’ ability to think strategically, recognize operational potentials and communicate organisational visions leveraging on a top-down methodology.
In a statement signed by the Director of Press and Public Relations, AbdulGaniyu Aminu, the HoS said the importance of the retreat can be further appreciated in the light of rapid introduction of mechanisms and structures to attain global best practices in the civil service.
Dr Yemi-Esan identified service-wide deployment of Standard Operating Procedures and the application of ISO certification among others, as some of the best practices.
The Head of Service reiterated that to survive and thrive in a disruptive era, institutions must not only continuously innovate, it must reengineer with the right leadership so as to be relevant.
She called for the need for culture change and change management as two enablers of the of the success of reform programmes.
“In our dynamic operating environment and globalized world, culture change and change management must be prioritized to achieve sustainable high productivity, organisational loyalty and ownership of reforms,” she added.
She expressed optimism that the retreat would provide the needed insights to the evolving roles of the Permanent Secretaries as strategic and innovative leaders.
