It is the responsibility of the Permanent Secretaries to support the general policies and priorities of government since governance in any nation is about the development of political and administrative structures for the achievement of national development in terms of infrastructure and the attainment of peace and political stability.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, made this assertion in Abuja, during a three day retreat, jointly organized by Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) for all Federal Permanent Secretaries.
Speaking, in his words “mindset without doubt is the greatest asset; it is worth more than any financial or business training “it is more valuable than any degree or any education”. Agba said that participants at the programme would learn some key issues on mindset-change because doing things the same way would always deliver the same results in dealing with concepts and issues.
He further Agba said that the programme could not have come at a more auspicious time than now that the Federal Government was in the process of developing Medium Term National Development Plan (2021-2025 & 2026 -2030) and long term perspective plan, Nigeria Agenda 2050. He assured that the plans would ensure economic stability, national development and good governance.
The Minister therefore urged participants to utilize the opportunity to exchange information as well as engage in social networking to exchange information, ideas and experiences among themselves. This, he opined would entrench friendships that would be useful for many years to come.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi – Esan, in her keynote address stated that the essence of the retreat was to enhance better interpretation of their roles as Permanent Secretaries and further discuss matters that pertained to developmental planning, reform management, good governance, accountability and transparency amongst others.
She said that a major highlight of the retreat had to do with succession planning, strategies and objective settings in the Federal Civil Service, which has become imperative for us to re-orient our work force and improve our value system; stating that effective succession or talent-pool management concerns itself with building a series of feeder group of officers throughout the entire leadership pipeline or progression.
Yemi – Esan further tasked participants on, on the -Job coaching, mentoring and guidance which were measures to achieving the desired objectives and aspiration regarding succession planning. ” if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together”.
Also speaking, Permanent Secretary Budget and National Planning Mrs. Olusola O. Idowu commended KAS for their continuous collaboration with the Ministry especially, as touching, organizing and funding of capacity building programmes; “The role of Permanent Secretaries, remain critical in the development of our dear country as we interface with various stake holders as well as state and non state actors”, she emphasized.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the resident Representative of KAS, Dr. Vladimir Krech, stated that good governance, when internalized and applied by government actors translate everywhere in the world be beneficial to respect for the rule of law, transparency , accountability, efficiency and equity. Therefore, he reiterated that the retreat would be beneficial to the permanent Secretaries in strategic planning and good governance.
“Designing developmental plans and their effective implementation induce sustainable development would be beneficial to the citizens of the country”. He hoped that the retreat would translate into a fruitful contribution to the development of the federal Republic of Nigeria.
Victoria Agba-Attah
Director Information, BNP
November 30th 2020.
