Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has charged the newly inaugurated cabinet members to ensure strict implementation and enforcement of all state laws.
Sanwo-Olu gave the charge on Saturday, during the ongoing four-day 2023 Onboarding Retreat Programme for Members of the State Executive Council, the Body of Permanent Secretaries and Heads of some Agencies and Parastatals, held in Epe.
The theme of the retreat which started on Thursday and will end on Sunday, is ”Navigating Government Excellence: Role of Leadership in Ensuring A Greater Lagos Rises”.
He tasked the new cabinet members to hit the ground running in delivering the campaign promises and dividends of democracy to Lagos residents, in line with the administration’s THEMES+ Agenda for Greater Lagos.
The governor said that part of the takeaway from the retreat was zero tolerance against violation of laws.
According to him, all cabinet members and Permanent Secretaries have been empowered to do the right things.
”There is going to be zero tolerance. People cannot just assume that all our laws will not be obeyed. That is the charge we are giving ourselves here.
”That is the charge we are taking away from this retreat, to further energise our people, to further ensure that we do things we are going to do without fear,” he said.
The governor said that the retreat had exposed the cabinet members to how governance was being run, urging them to cooperate and work in harmony with civil servants in their different ministries, to get the desired results.
”We have had conversations that bordered around everybody’s role, appreciating each other’s responsibility and fashioning a vision that all of us would be signing on to; a vision that would reflect what would be our mode of engagement and rules of engagement for the next three and half years.
”We had sessions with two former governors – Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. They gave us their experiences and talked about things that we should be doing differently and we thanked them so very much for the time out here.
”We believe that at the end of the exercise on Sunday, all of us will not only be better equipped, energised, and be on the same page, but we will be giving ourselves a sense of commitment that we will take back to our respective posts from Monday, where we will carry our staff along.
”Cabinet members and Permanent Secretaries will also share the visions and some of the things with the staff, so that everybody in the civil service is further energised for quality service delivery to Lagosians and bring about all of the promises that we politicians have given to ensure a Greater Lagos Rising,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu said that the new cabinet members needed to hit the ground running, understand and appreciate the enormous responsibility that the job brought to the table.
According to him, the cabinet members should know that to whom much is given, much is expected and that residents will be watching all of them, hence, they cannot fail.
”We have done four years and we want to do the next four years. We want to do it quicker, faster and bolder, and that is the space that all of us have committed to.
”We believe that we are going to leave here better people, better managers, better leaders, better politicians and at the end, our citizens would feel the benefits of our four days exercise,” the governor said.
Also speaking, the Head of Service, Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola, said that the theme of the retreat was in line with Gov. Sanwo-Olu administration’s THEMES+ agenda.
Muri-Okunola said that the retreat would help them to get into the workplace on Monday and hit the ground running seamlessly without any bottlenecks and ego, as they were partners on the same journey.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, said that the cabinet members and the permanent secretaries would work as a stronger team and act proactively to address issues.
Omotoso said that they would take charge and render quality service to residents, as the government enforced the law, in order not to lose the environment to flooding.
The Commissioner for Tourism, Mrs Adetoke Benson-Awoyinka, also said the State Government through her ministry would work together to promote Afrobeat Music.
Benson-Awoyinka said that this would make Lagos a tourism destination in Africa and the world where hospitality remained top-notch.
NAN
