Importance Of ‘Data Empiricism’, ‘Loyalty’ Emphasized At 2-Day Workshop Held For Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries In Ilorin

Political office holders and top government officials in Kwara State including commissioners and permanent secretaries have been urged to attach importance to data empiricism as it will help to provide guidance in respect of decisions and actions that affect the lives of the citizens.

Professor Emmanuel Ojo, a professor of Political Science at the University of Ilorin, who said this while delivering his keynote speech during the roundtable attended by commissioners and Permanent Secretaries in Kwara State which was organized by the state Government noted that gathering of information and data will also help to avoid missteps.

Ojo was the Chief of Staff, Government House, Ibadan during the Abiola Ajimobi administration and the 2-day workshop which began on Wednesday at Wingate Hotel, Ilorin, was organized by Office of Head of Service , Kwara State in partnership with Triumph Corporate Ltd.

‘In Africa governance is done without critical information and data. Rather than groping in the dark, develop flair for data gathering as they affect your ministry. Every government needs to engage statisticians and possibly consultants to handle an opinion poll. Government may like to test waters to know whether a policy will be accepted, popular or not. For instance, most governments don’t do strategic planning.

 In the next one decade, like how many more primary schools do you require in Kwara State? How many gallons of potable water? How many refuse collection vans to take care of both Municipal and Industrial wastes? With the sprawling population on daily basis more clinics and health centres will be needed and how many? For the Head of Service, are you aware of the ‘decision tree’? As workers are retiring, resigning or getting disengaged for whatever reasons, how many should replace them to guide the government? This is why in the state civil and public service all over the country you have generational gaps that could have been breached long time earlier’ he said.

Professor Ojo also submitted that keeping abreast of developments is necessary as this will help political office holders and top government officials to know when to quickly take remedial measures.  He also added that information management should be considered as a collective responsibility.

‘Democracy is about free flow of information between the government and the governed. Without information flow, feedback will become difficult. Thus, a political appointee should be conversant with the needs of his/her environment/constituency. This becomes necessary more so when preparing budget. A government that is building roads where water or security is needed can never get it right. The job of information management should not be left for the officials of information ministry alone. They may not take adequate cognizance of some issues which may hinder the performance of your own duty. In essence, read newspapers, mark new items that have to do with your ministry.

Also pay particular attention to private radio/tv broadcast stations. It may be important to write rejoinders. Please keep abreast of developments. Apart from that, what is happening in neighbouring states should equally earn your attention. Comparative knowledge is essential -how it is done in other states-let me briefly recall the creation of Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Oyo State. I had to tour some states who did it earlier for comparative information. You must not be an island unto yourself it smacks of arrogance. Don’t be shy to grant media interviews, defend your principal, most especially in the electronic media’ he submitted.

Although ‘competence’ is important, Professor Ojo however emphasized that making ‘loyalty’ the watchword is more important because having disloyal people will be a disservice to the government at any level.

‘In government which is a political milieu, there is a clear distinction between loyalty and competence in terms of hierarchy. A president/governor cannot afford to surround himself/herself with disloyal characters and personnel. In terms of skills, many attended credible universities both within and outside the country with diverse knowledge and experiences. But not many could be regarded as being loyal. Many come into government simply because of ‘our daily bread’. Let me beseech you all to be absolutely loyal to your principal. Even when you are rebuffed, the closer to your principal the better. His success should be your success. No doubt, demonstration of skills should go pari passu with loyalty. Don’t be a ‘black horse’s amongst the lot exposing government secrets to the opposition elements.

During the President Jonathan administration, he lamented that there were Boko Haram agents in his government. People with soft spots for the insurgents! How did he manage to tolerate them or got them on board? If you are displeased with public policy or style of your principal’s administration, call it quit rather than being a quisling. Why you must be loyal is that electorates voted for your principal because of his wisdom, knowledge and skills as perceived rightly or wrongly by them. That is why he deserves your total loyalty at all times both in private and in public’ he added.

The Unilorin professor also emphasized the role of Permanent Secretaries in stabilizing government while urging the commissioners to maintain ‘excellent’ relationship with their respective permanent secretaries.

‘They deserve a special attention in this presentation. They are the accounting officers of their respective ministries and agencies. Attaining that status makes your skills very unique from the political appointees who may be green horns. Having attended several trainings, workshops both within and outside the country coupled with your decades of service in the state civil/public service government should be able to depend on your recommendations and suggestions.

A warning or advice that you need most is that don’t give room for unnecessary rivalry between you and your commissioners. Experience has shown that Permanent Secretaries do lord it over with their Commissioners while Commissioners should also see them as stakeholders in the project of developing the state. Whatever you are recommending to the governor it is important that your Permanent Secretary makes reasonable inputs’ he said.

In an interview with Team@orientactualmags.com  Dr. Shittu Olufunke Mercy, who is the acting Head of Service, said the essence of the workshop is ‘to enhance the performance of government officials and political office holders in the state, especially the Permanent Secretaries and the commissioners’.

‘Being the two leading officers at the ministry level, they must not work at cross purposes, otherwise, we will be experiencing policy somersaults, policy failures and all other things that may hinder things. So, the essence is to bring Honourable Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries together and seek to ask questions. How have you been working? Let’s have an assessment. Having assessed, what are the problems, having identified the problems, what are the solutions that we can offer so that we can continue to move the state forward and continue to ensure good governance’ she added.

Are there signs that the workshop will achieve its aim? ‘Oh, yes, it has achieved its aim and it will still achieve more. I say that from the point of view of the feedback from the roundtable, because after the lead paper was presented, we dissolved into roundtable where we had Honourable Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries discussing issues of concern. And going back by what we had, the feedback is that ‘yes, we have achieved’, and we will leverage that achievement to reach out to other areas where we need to improve on’ she asserted.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam commended Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for the continued investment in capacity building for people in positions of authority in the state which has according to her resulted in positive results and good outputs.

Former Commissioner for Information, who is the CEO of Triumph Corporate Ltd, Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin, said the workshop was held to enhance the skills of commissioners and permanent secretaries in the state to make them work more efficiently.

‘We expect them to do their job more efficiently, no knowledge is a waste they are now better equipped with knowledge on how to handle government matters’ he added.

Secretary to the State Government, Professor Mamman Saba Jubril, Special Adviser on Special Duties, Alhaji Razaq Jidda, Commissioner for Transport, Hon. Aliyu Kora Sabi, Commissioner for Works, Hon Qawiyyu Olododo and Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, Hon  Damilola Yusuf Adelodun were among commissioners who attended the workshop-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079, 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you

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