Gov Ambode Expresses Commitment to Civil Service Reforms.

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Friday said his administration would be more committed to reforms in the State Civil Service.

Ambode stated this while receiving the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, who was on a courtesy visit to his office.

He said that only a viable workforce could drive policies and programmes of government.

The governor said that he remained a strong supporter of the public service reforms.

Ambode said that any government desirous of making positive change in the lives of the citizenry must have a motivated and trained workforce.

"We do not have any choice because the engine room of whatever it is that is our policy or programme, is actually in the public service," he said.

Ambode assured Oyo-Ita that the state government would continue to partner the Federal Government in the areas of training and retraining of public servants.

"So it is in our better interest that we enhance this relationship.

"It is important that we build a virile civil service that can stand the test of time.

"Even when programmes or parties change, the bull work of the machinery of deliverables to our people which is the civil service remains very strong.

"That is what I am committed to," the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Ambode as saying.

He expressed optimism that if put in the right perspective; the civil service could engender economic growth and increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation.

Earlier, Oyo-Ita sought the governor's support in reviving the "comatose" Federal Training Institutes to make them efficient.

She said that her office would improve on the commercial orientation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

She said the economic downturn had made it imperative to make the MDAs more commercial oriented, adding that she was in Lagos to visit some of the federal institutions in the state. (NAN)