From Ifeoma Ejiiofor
It’s been 5 months since Professor Chukwuma Soludo assumed office as the Governor of Anambra State. Since then, he had gone on to set in motion other machineries needed for productivity and the smooth running of his administration.
From the appointment of Commissioners and other aides to lay off foundational policies, the Governor has never shied away from his understanding that a productive workforce would be instrumental to the success of his Government.
This underscored why one of the first steps he took after assuming office was to organize a two-day retreat for members of his team − the Solution Team − comprising Commissioners, Special Advisers, Heads of Agencies/Parastatals, Permanent Secretaries, and key aides, where seasoned public administrators, private sector players took the team on presentations aimed at inspiring productivity.
In line with the body language and vision of the principal actor, Soludo, the Ministry of Lands has taken concrete steps to improve its work environment, inspire the workforce and increase productivity.
With less than five months after the appointment of the Commissioner for lands, Professor Offornze Amucheazi (SAN), the Ministry of Lands is already wearing a new face. This is a Ministry that was many months ago challenged in administration and service delivery.
Realizing that a conducive work environment and availability of enabling facilities impact productivity to a large extent, the Ministry under Amucheazi started with the provision of the basic facilities needed in such a government Ministry.
Two backup power generating sets and solar light panels were provided, laptops, desktop computers were procured, as well as CCTV cameras, air conditioners, intercom for speedy internal communication, while fire safes for appropriate file documentation in the event of accidents like fire were provided too.
A staff of the Ministry who pleaded for anonymity stated that some of these facilities were not funded by the Government, rather the Commissioner leveraged his social capital as funding was one of the major challenges.
Could this be a show of the level of trust people have in the Commissioner and his vision? There is equally renovation of an abandoned building and toilet facilities, all funded by PPP (Public-Private Partnership) intervention schemes.
Aside that, the bureaucratic process of payments, land administration and prompt collection of the certificate of occupancy (C-of-Os) in the Ministry has become less difficult to access.
POS machines are now made available to make direct payment to the banks, rather than the tedious process of making payments in banks and returning with deposit slips to continue processes. CTCs are made available in a space of 2 days while the collections of the C-of-Os are made available after a month of purchase and filing. It is important to recall that prior to the current dispensation, collection of the C-of-Os took 6-12 months depending on the nature of complexity of application and slow follow ups.
Also, in a bid to enhance communication between the Ministry and the general public, hotlines and email addresses will be released to the public soon, so that people can easily call and lodge complaints or challenges and get support.
From the foregoing, it’s obvious that the Ministry of Lands under Professor Amucheazi is going somewhere and only time will ink it. His leadership strategy has also been one to emulate, with his readiness to implement PPP schemes in increasing productivity and motivation among the workforce to improve service delivery.
This is highly commendable and should be implemented by other public sector leaders across the nation, to improve productivity in the Nigerian Civil Service.