Local Government Establishments, Training and Pensions Office has urged council engineers to come together to speed up development.
Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission Kamal Bayeiwu spoke at the opening of a two-day capacity training for officers in the unified local government service.
Bayeiwu said the training would prepare the beneficiaries for higher responsibilties.
He said: “… if you don’t train them, don’t blame them. So, whatever we’re doing is to enhance the capacity of every of our staff, especially those in the Works Department… We are preparing them for more responsibilities because any of these engineers can become the council manager.
‘’So, we need to equip them, make them responsive so they can compete with their peers.
“After this training… I expect them to pass the knowledge by training their subordinates.
“This training, which started last year, is the second tranche, and it will not be limited to the works cadre, it will go round everyone.”
Permanent Secretary of the Local Government Establishment, Training and Pensions office, organiser of the workshop, Mrs. Kikelomo Bolarinwa, noted the workshop would enhance capacity of council engineers ‘because they are strategic to the THEMES agenda of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
She added: “Engineers are strategic to achieving the THEMES agenda of the present administration because the profession has a lot of collaborations it can enter into with other stakeholders in the delivery of the agenda to the citizens. And so this training will help them to understand the principles behind collaboration. It will also enable them to collaborate better, though they have been doing it, it would improve their collaborative skills. It will also help in delivering the mandates that their various principals have promised the citizens.”
A beneficiary, Fatai Alabi, from Oriade LCDA, described the training as well-structured.
He said: “The training is well structured and I have benefitted a lot. The strategic alliance for core professionals revolves around empowering us to delivering infrastructure like roads, drainage, street light, to our localotuo. We need to start forming alliances with other professionals to make sure we give the dividends of democracy to our people.
So I will go back home and incorporate all I have learnt into my daily activities and make sure the people benefit from the knowledge I have gained here.”