Tag: lagos

Lagos State Resilience Office (LASRO) at the weekend held a resilience sensitisation programme for middle level management officers in the civil service, as part of efforts to further strengthen the state’s resilience capacity.

Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) Folayinka Dania said Lagos faces numerous urban development challenges, ranging from large and ever increasing population to inadequate physical and social infrastructure, climate change impacts such as flooding, coastal erosion and extreme heat, among others.

She, therefore, said the training was necessary to equip civil servants with the knowledge to help the state cope better with “these vicissitudes of urbanisation.”

Dania said: “The Lagos Resilience Strategy articulates an integrated approach to addressing these challenges, which can be classified into shocks and stresses. It outlines resilience building initiatives which, we believe, if effectively implemented, will enable us build a Greater Lagos; a Lagos that is safe, sustainable and inclusive; a Lagos which anticipates and plans for different shocks and stresses; a Lagos that survives, adapts and thrives in the face of any challenges; and one that turns challenges into greater opportunities for growth and development. 

Read Also: Fed Govt has N6tr funding gap for 2,604 road projects, says Umahi

“The Lagos State Resilience Office therefore identifies initiatives that the state should implement if we want to survive and grow despite these challenges. The strategy has three pillars, 10 goals, and 31 initiatives that we believe if implemented will help us improve the resilience off Lagos.

“The success in implementing the strategy however rests on the rank and file of the Public Service. It is therefore imperative to educate all public servants on urban resilience, the resilience lens and its application in prioritising resilience building initiatives, the contents of the Lagos Resilience Strategy, and the roles to be played by various MDAs to ensure its successful implementation.”

Dania, who reiterated that public servants are engine rooms for the government to actualise its programmes and policies, urged them to ‘take charge of the concept of resilience, and be prepared to continually acquire additional knowledge, skills as well as proficiency in the application of modern technologies to aid the discharge of scheduled assignments and responsibilities’.

She added: “Every public servant has a role to play in ensuring that initiatives in the resilience strategy get implemented. But they cannot do this if they don’t understand the concept of resilience, how to use it in priortising things, initiatives or actions that needs to be implemented, and also knowing and understanding they need self improvement to achieve this. This is why this sensititation is necessary. It will teach them to prioritise implementation so we can have a shared vision of building a resilient Lagos.

“We believe that mid-level managers are the future, and we know that a successful implementation of the resilience strategy rests on the file and rank of Lagos state. That is why this training is important so that as they get into those roles as directors in the future, they already have the resilience orientation and so they use that to implement the various government projects and programmes across the state.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Hybrid Group Limited, a health and safety outfit, Dapo Omolade, has commended the establishment of a health and safety ministry by the Lagos State Government as a commendable move that will create more employment opportunities for its citizens.

Omolade, who stressed that other state governments should emulate the initiative, noted that it is capable of improving governance and reduce the rate of accidents in the country.

 According to him, the bill signed by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will create an occupational safety officers cadre in the civil service structure from level 8 to grade level 17, providing opportunities for employment, training, and elevation of civil servants within the system.

He said: “It is a smart move by Governor Sanwo-Olu and his team to establish occupational safety officers cadre from level 8 to grade level 17 within the Lagos state civil service structure.

 “What it means is that the government has created more employment opportunities in the state to give chances to elevate some civil servants within the system.

“Sometime last year, the Federal Government and the National Council of Establishment decided in Abuja that the health and safety cadre and sub-cadre should be established in public service. This means that the Nigerian system can now have health and safety functions and roles at the federal ministry down to state ministries.

 “For instance, just like we have research officers, inspections, inspectors, and scientific officers, we will now have safety officers, and they can progress from maybe safety officer one, depending on how they want to coin it.

 “The Lagos State governor has approved the Federal Government initiative into the state governance, and as a safety expert, I’m thrilled about this development.

“The approval by the Federal Government allows safety professionals to move up to level 17, which is the director position, within the public service structure.

 “This is great news as it signifies that the  federal ministries and parastatals have started the implementation process, thus ensuring that safety personnel can now reach the highest level in their career.”

Read Also: Tinubu heads to New York Sunday for UN General Assembly

 Omolade said the initiative would also help to minimise the number of avoidable accidents in the country.

 “Many people are not aware that they can prevent certain accidents, and this has unfortunately resulted in financial losses for individuals due to damage to their property and other valuable possessions,” he said.

 The health and safety expert also said the initiative would remove the initial problem of overloading safety commissions with burdens.

“As the initiative moves from the federal level to the states, it is now possible to visit workplaces and ask to meet with the chief operational security officer for this ministry.

 “This eliminates the initial issue of having everything done by the safety commission. Currently, the Safety Commission only needs to collaborate with the safety system of each ministry as a regulator,” Omolade said.

 He however, said to effectively implement the initiative, the government needs to invest in training and competence development.

He said: “If there is a shortage of qualified individuals within the system, the government should advertise and employ safety professionals who are already trained and experienced.

 “They can be employed in different grades based on their experience and qualifications, and eventually become professional safety personnel as civil servants.

 “The idea of bringing in experienced safety professionals into the civil service is a beautiful thing,.

 “Health and safety is a profession that requires proper training and experience. It is not something that can be learned on the fly or just assigned to someone without the appropriate qualifications.

 “If the government wants to create a team of  health and safety officers, then it is important to invest in a proper training programme that can provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge.

 “This will not only benefit the employees but also generate income for the state.

 “Alternatively, if the government does not have the resources to train them, they should advertise for qualified safety professionals to apply for the positions.

 “There are many professionals out there who are looking for opportunities and would be happy to move to new positions if given the chance.”

Lagos Commissioner for Housing, Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, has pledged a greater commitment to increased housing delivery for Lagosians.

He made this promise during a reception organised by the Ministry of Housing for him and the Special adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mrs. Barakat Bakare.

Akinderu-Fatai expressed gratitude to God for another opportunity to serve the people of the state.

He thanked Governor Babajide Sanwoolu whom he described as “a great leader with an unparalleled passion for improving the lots of the people.”

“The Governor is an exemplary leader and in following him, we have come to understand the beauty of giving our all in serving the people,” he said.

Read Also:Why we are collaborating with NPC, by Housing Minister

He affirmed that in the spirit of the THEMES PLUS agenda, the Ministry of Housing will upscale it’s activities to increase the supply of homes to Lagosians through the completion of all on-going projects in the five administrative divisions of the state.

“We will also firm up collaborations for the delivery of mass houses for workers of various categories,” he said.

Akinderu-Fatai sought the continued cooperation of the staff of the Ministry saying that “there is a greater need for efficient service delivery at this period given the ever increasing population of the state.”

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Kamar Olowoshago expressed great pleasure in welcoming the commissioner back to the ministry.

He assured the two political appointees of the loyalty and commitment of the workers towards actualizing the housing mandate of the Governor Sanwo-Olu.