LASG sets to eliminate red-tapism in public service

The Lagos state government on Tuesday officially embarked on a campaign geared towards assimilation of a new world view by the state’s public servants and systematic elimination of red-tapism, complacency and status quo in the public service, for effective service delivery.

Briefing journalists at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, the state’s Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke in his keynote address titled, ‘Advocacy of The Mindset: Cultivating and Sustaining A Growth Mindset in The Lagos State Public Service’, said the campaign is an orientation meant to change the mindset of public servants.

He said, Lagos, being an emerging smart city with the attendant challenges; it was pertinent to develop public servants of the 21st Century, those who could change the status quo, cut through red-tapism and complacency; public servants who could bring new ideas to the table, think outside the box, think positively, are proactive and are able to make decisions with little or no supervision from their superiors.

According to him, the fixed mindset of civil servants which leads to redundancy, has to be changed to a growth mindset.

“We are convinced that, by having individual officers of the Lagos State public service inculcate the growth mindset, we can attain a truly effective, productive, and transformational public service that will surpass the expectations of all stakeholders. In practical terms, our advocacy will be to challenge and encourage all officers of the Lagos State public service to embrace a growth mindset,” Oke said.

He stressed that every officer with a growth mindset will become interested in understanding and adopting the vision of the public service as a whole, and will be empowered to set a clear vision regarding their duties and effectively communicate it to colleagues, providing them with a clear understanding of the desired direction from time to time.

He added that every officer in the public service with a growth mindset will be personally invested in the resolve and effort to cut through red-tapism in all facets of the public-facing segments of the public service. He added that they would also embrace the new customer-centred drive of the public service.

“Every officer of the Lagos State public service with a growth mindset will be ready and equipped to assume leadership of assigned tasks, including the ability and readiness to take initiatives and decisions that align with communicated objectives.

This will also result in the possession of critical sift skills that invariably positively transform the officers’ attitude to work,” he said.

In his submission, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kehinde Bamigbetan, said the initiative would be a continuous exercise and not a one off procedure. He said the campaign became imperative because citizens had become more knowledgeable, were demanding quality services and fair value for their services.

He added that it takes a brave government to identify and admit its weaknesses, and to step up a gear to correct that shortfall.

Benjamin Omoike