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The Borno State Government under the leadership of Governor Babagana Zulum has commenced a five-day retreat for Permanent Secretaries on Public Procurement and Contract Management.
The retreat is organised by office of the Borno Head of Service in collaboration with Centre for Management Development (CMD) Abuja, which took place at Utako Kanem Suite.
In his opening remarks, the Director General of CMD, Mr Bitrus Chinoko represented by Mrs Dorathy Okwesiri, commended the Head of Service, Barrister Simon Malgwi for his commitment to affirmative action by ensuring 35% gender inclusiveness for training. She urged participants to maximize the opportunity the retreat offers to improve on their skills and knowledge towards excellent performance and service delivery.
The Permanent Secretaries were reminded that they remain the driving force of the economy of Borno State and as such, it is pertinent that they made use of the enormous opportunity presented to them to make a difference in the discharge of their functions with the knowledge acquired in the training.
In his speech, the Head of Service, Barrister Malgwi lauded the new collaboration with CMD that he looks forward to more partnerships. Malgwi said the retreat would not only cover Public Procurement but also other related areas such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence.
Malgwi said that the retreat is a continuation of the policy of Governor Babagana Zulum on the training and retraining of civil servants of all cadre in the state’s civil service to reposition the service for more effective and efficient service delivery in line with his belief that a well trained, motivated, and vibrant civil service is important not only for government’s implementation of programmes but also for equitable provision and distribution of the dividends of democracy.
The Head of Service said that this was the fourth workshop in the past one month from his office following a workshop for Directors to build their capacity on managerial skills, a second on capacity building for administrative cadre from level 8 to 13, and a third for store processing administrative cadre to improve their skills on effective store management, all programs in conjunction with reputable consultants.
He noted that the retreat for Permanent Secretaries in Borno State civil service was so important that shortly after his assumption of office in 2019, the governor domesticated the Procurement Law in 2020 to ensure accountability, transparency, and value for money. He further charged the Permanent Secretaries to realized that they occupied the position of trust and so, cannot afford to fail and therefore, they should do things differently to cause change. “Posterity would judge us kindly if we put in our best to rebuild our state for a better tomorrow. Remember, accountability is both here and here after”, Malgwi said as he declared the retreat open. Malgwi however expressed gratitude to Governor Zulum for supporting the training for civil servants.
In an interview on the retreat, Mr Eldan Manya, the Zonal Coordinator, North East, said the workshop would improve the administration. ”It would help reduce waste of resources and maximize the use of scarce resources to achieve desired results,” Manya said
(vanguardngr.com)
