Mr. Edet Sunday Akpan has disclosed that 99 Directorate Cadre staff of Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment was trained; while 603 staff on G/L 7 – 14 was also trained and 204 staff on Grade Level 01 – 06 also benefited from training under his watch as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry.
In response to the achievement reeled by Mr. Edet Akpan during his watch as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita said: “The Change Agenda of Mr. President is all about creating a cordial work environment for workers.” This was the view expressed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, when she led six Permanent Secretaries on peer review to assess the Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Edet Sunday Akpan in Abuja on Thursday, 22nd March, 2018.
Mrs. Oyo-Ita said the purpose of the peer review visit to the Ministry was to review the activities of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and to also gauge the level of compliance with the change agenda of the present administration.
She said the Peer Review Mechanism is to enable Permanent Secretaries to interact, assess and relate with one another. “It is about drawing lessons from a performing Ministry and implementing same in another Ministry.”
The Head of Service and the Peer Review Mechanism Team applauded Mr. Edet Akpan for a job well done and urged the Ministry to interrelate more with the other Ministries that have similar programmes and agenda with it in order to tackle the issue of unemployment in the country.
She mentioned that the Ministry needs funding especially for it to deploy more of ICT to drive most of its functions which she observed are highly technical.
Oyo-Ita also mentioned that the Weight and Measures Department is a very delicate and highly technical Department and needs to be focused on; she said it is important that the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment expresses its manpower requirements to the Federal Civil Service Commission so the right caliber of staff personnel are recruited.
In his presentation to his fellow Permanent Secretaries, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Edet Sunday Akpan centered his presentation on the Core Mandate, Institutional Strength, Work Environment, Relationship Management, Staff Welfare, Productivity Improvement Initiatives, Compliance with Executive Orders, Compliance with Civil Service Strategic Plan 2017 – 2020, Challenges of the Ministry and Way Forward.
While speaking on the Core Mandates of the Ministry, Mr. Akpan said the Core Mandate supports the priorities of Government under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan that places emphasis on diversification of the economy.
He further said that the Ministry brought in innovation from within and outside to improve service delivery. He also said that the Ministry has established Units and Offices dedicated to such excellent service delivery such as GEM (Growth and Employment Project).
The Permanent Secretary further briefed the team that the Ministry has a total of 14 Departments with Offices in the 36 States of the federation not leaving behind the Parastatals and Agencies which are 16 in number; they are the Consumer Protection Council, Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, Corporate Affairs Commission, Oil and Gas free Zones Authority, Financial Reporting Council, Nigeria Commodity Exchange, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board, Bank of Industry.
Others which he mentioned are Industrial Training Fund, Standard Organization of Nigeria, National Sugar Development Council, National Automotive Design and Development Council, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agencies of Nigeria, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Tafawa Balewa Square Management Board and Nigeria Office for Trade Negotiations, which he described as the newest Organization, established in 2017.
He said that the Ministry and its Parastatals/Agencies are improving on productivity and governance in human resources administration in the process of promotion, recruitment and training. The Permanent Secretary reported that there is harmonious working relationship between the Management and the Staff Unions.
He however revealed that funding, infrastructure, power, human capacity development and ICT are some of the challenges faced by the Ministry.
Funmilayo Oloyinde
For: DD (PRESS)
