Ayodele Olalere
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, on Tuesday urged heads of parastatals and government-owned companies to raise the bar of quality performance in service delivery to the people of the state.
At an interactive session with all the heads of the agencies and parastatals held at the Lagos State House Alausa Ikeja, Governor Sanwo-Olu likened civil service to a football team where every player and staff of a football club must work together to win a match and trophy.
He said all the heads of parastatals must work together to achieve a common goal of delivering quality service.
The governor added a weak player or link in a football team could result in the team losing a football match.
‘ You must work as a team because you all have a role to play in good governance in Lagos State. There is no one who is irreplaceable. You should always do a self-appraisal of yourself. If you don’t have two or three people that can replace you then you haven’t done enough. You should not be a weak link in a team,” he said.
Sanwo- Olu noted that some agencies are even bigger than some ministries, and urged the heads to see their positions as opportunities and be committed to fulfilling their roles in moving the state forward.
“There are those who believe that we can do it, make Lagos better than the way we met it. We must go out to do it and not disappoint them.’
Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat said the vision of Lagos is to become an Africa model megacity. He said Lagos does not compare itself with other states in Nigeria.
He advised the Heads of Parastatals to relate with one another in other to succeed noting that agencies must spring up to her responsibilities
In a paper presented at the event, Publisher of Complete Football and Complete Sports, Dr Mumini Alao who talked on Private Sector Management Strategies for Government parastatals, said like a football team, each head has a role to play in delivering good governance to the people and the dividends of democracy.
He encouraged the state government to create more avenues to improve on sports
“Parastatals should actually set a benchmark for themselves in terms of service delivery and methodology,” he said.
Special Adviser to Lagos State Government on Parastatals and Government Owned Companies, in the Parastatals Monitoring Office, PMO, Mr Afolabi Ayantayo in his address said PMO was established in 1986 to manage government parastatals but was upgraded to a ministry under the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration.
The office according to him is to promote good governance which the office has to be able to carry out its activities effectively.
“Our plan is to set up a library where activities of all parastatals and agencies of government will be well documented for all to see,” he said
