The Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, has advocated Performance Management System to ensure effectiveness of public servants in the nation’s public services.
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]yeyemi spoke on Wednesday in Ado-Ekiti, at the second quarterly public lecture organized for top public servants in the State with the theme “Performance management Imperative in the public service: The FRSC experience”.
The Corps Marshall stressed the need to transform the civil service for effective service delivery using the Performance Management System which he described as the modern global best practices and also to look at how states can build capacity of their human capital.
He said that the public service helps to improve the quality of life of the people as well as determines the perception the people has about the effectiveness of government and governance.
Oyeyemi Commended the state for its efforts at ensuring human capacity building by training 1212 and the idea of creating an office for establishment and training and appointing a Permanent Secretary to oversee the office shows how the state values human capacity.
He urged states to embrace Professionalization of the public service adding that performance management system as systematic approach to measure the performance of employees annually and quarterly and it’s the process through which organizations are aligned to their mission and vision.
Oyeyemi further stated that it is the responsibility of the civil service to drive, define and break down the implementation of the vision and cardinal points of government saying that civil servants must develop the framework on how the pillars of this administration can be achieved to make the public appreciate government policies and programmes.
The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who was part of the participants at the lecture, used the opportunity to express his appreciation to the state civil service for helping to drive the agenda of his administration assuring them that he would not lay off any worker on account of payment of new minimum wage.
Fayemi promised to continue to enhance the capacity of its workers using performance monitoring and evaluation as catalyst for effective performance in public service.
He assured Ekiti Workers that his administration would continue to motivate and encourage the public service towards ensuring that they are adequately rewarded for their services, adding that there promotion and advancement would henceforth be as and when due which is a departure from the practice in the last administration, where workers were denied of their promotion and other benefits for many years.
The Governor also disclosed that his government has taken a bold step to strengthen the work force by recruiting qualified candidates to fill the existing vacancies in the schools system and core civil service promising to sustain the regular payment of salaries and disbursement of other entitlements like car, land and housing loans.
The Governor who revealed that he has commenced the implementation of the new minimum wage for officers on Grade Levels 02-06, promised that other grade levels would soon benefit from the scheme once labour leaders conclude their negotiation with government on the payment.
Fayemi also commended the outgoing head of service, Mr Ayodeji Ajayi on his efforts at repositioning the public service within his short period of time through restoration of policy engagement and confidence measurement in the system.
Soliciting for the supports of public servants in the delivery of the dividends of democracy to the people of the State, the governor anticipated that the current efforts of his administration would produce a robust and reinvigorated public service with enhance performance towards public works.
The governor said “I want to commend the leadership of the public service in Ekiti state for organizing this forum because it is an opportunity to re-awaken the consciousness of our public servants and put them on the right part towards robust service delivery. And with what we have heard from our guest lecturer, Performance monitoring, performance evaluation as an imperative in the public service utilizing the example of the FRSC, we can see the critical importance of not just being clear about what we want to do but also consistently monitoring how we are doing it, the impact we are making and the process of arriving at the implementation of the various programmes.
“The FRSC experience is apt and considering the present administration transformation strategy in the public service, it therefore gladdens my heart that the topic was carefully chosen and professionally handled.
“Let me reiterate that the State Government does not have any plan to retrench workers on the account of the payment of the new minimum wage. We also commence the payment of the minimum wage for officers on GL 02 – 06 in October, 2019, other grade level officers will also benefit from the new pay as soon as the ongoing negotiation between labour leaders and the government is concluded.
“Let me reinstate here that the goal of this administration is to ensure that our public servants are equipped with the right skills knowledge and attitude needed for the realization of our medium and long term plans particularly in the critical sectors, we are mindful of all these and we shall continue to support our public service through periodic capacity building and training.
“Public service as a machinery of government is crucial to the implementation of the policies and programmes of government. There is no gainsaying the fact that quality of an organization’s human capital is central and critical to the attainment of its goals and objectives. This underline and explains the unwavering commitment of our government to vigorous and systemic reforms of not only public service structures, processes and procedures, but also to the enthronement of an efficient human resource management and development system that is in line with global best practices.
“Our outgoing Head of Service, Mr Ayodeji Ajayi has added immense values to the public service within a short space of time through his restoration of policy engagement and confidence rolling measures in the system. He has lived up to the expectation and justified his appointment as the number one public servant in Ekiti state.
“Since assumption of office, he has worked assiduously to ensure the functionality of the system, the sector has improved in the service delivery unlike what obtained in the immediate past, he is living behind a virile public service and I am convinced that things can only continue to get better.
“I therefore, solicit for your support, your patience and your understanding in the delivery of the dividends of democracy which we promised to all Ekiti people, it is anticipated that the current efforts of government will leads to reverb of public service and create opportunities to reinvigorate public works and raise the bar of its performance.
While stressing the need for officers in the managerial level to continue to add value to government policy formulation and implementation, the governor urged the entire workforce to give their unflinching support to Mrs Peju Babafemi as she assume office as the new Head of Service on Monday
“I will like to urge you all to give her the support that you have given to the outgoing head of service, so that she can continue the job of civil service transformation without hitch or hindrance. And to our management level officers you cannot afford to be ignorant of the enormity of the responsibility upon your shoulders it is your duty to add value to policy formulation and implementation, therefore I urge you to give the best you can and be a shining light to your junior ones
Earlier, the Head of Service, Mr Ayodeji Ajayi remarked that the need to broaden the horizon of the state public servants motivated the decision to invite seasoned administrator like the FRSC boss to deliver lectures that will interest the workers.
