LEAD-P Will Ensure Efficiency in Civil Service, Says VP Shettima

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja 

Vice President, Kasim Shettima has described the Leadership Enhancement and Development Programme (LEAD-P) as an initiative that will ensure efficiency and reposition the civil service.

He stated this recently at the graduation ceremony of 106 graduands of LEAD-P programme in Abuja.

The Vice President was represented by the Special Adviser on Economic Affairs in the office of the Vice President, Mr. Tope Fasua.

He noted that the programme, which was a training course for civil servants in Grade Level 10-14, would help to address longstanding challenges facing the federal civil service.

Shetima said he believed that with the rigorous training on leadership that the graduates passed through over the months, the country now boasts of a public service and civil service that is a ready cohort of game changers and change ambassadors

“This marks a further turning point in the fortunes of the public service and the civil service in Nigeria and the astute work that has been done that continues to be done in requisitioning the service. I assure you that it’s a new dawn.

“The idea behind training a select few is for them to infect in a good way the vast majority with what they have learned and to replicate themselves everywhere. The task will not be easy. The world is watching and your job is cut out for you,” the vice president said.

He stressed the critical need to reposition public service to enable the country to begin to attain the levels seen in many countries around the world and to walk away from a reputation of redundancy and inefficiency.

In his remarks, the  Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, described LEAD-P programme as a vital pillar of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025.

The SGF, who was represented by 

the permanent secretary, General Services Office, OSGF, Dr. Nnamdi Maurice Mbaeri, said the knowledge and skills the LEAD-P graduands acquired were not merely their own; but a torch entrusted to them to illuminate the path forward for the civil service, and ultimately, for Nigeria. 

“To the 107 graduates, your journey through this program has been one of intellectual rigor and personal transformation. You have been challenged, stretched, and molded into the leaders our nation needs. Therefore, I charge you to deploy your intellect with conviction, your skills with purpose, and your leadership with integrity,” Akume said.

Also speaking, the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, stressed the need for human capital for nation building, describing investment in human knowledge and skills as an urgent necessity for development. 

“This is because people are the main engine for growth and without skills or knowledge and personnel, it’s not possible to achieve the growth, development and advance rates that nations aspire to,”Yemi-Esan said.

The guest speaker at the ceremony was the Founder and Chairman Fate Foundation, Mr Afolabi Adeola.