From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has expressed the determination of his administration to build and strengthen the capacity of workers in the State’s Civil Service.
The governor said this during a meeting held behind closed doors in Government House, Port Harcourt, with the national leadership of Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) Chartered, on Thursday.
After the meeting, leader of the delegation and National President of NIM, Christiana Atako, told newsmen that Governor Fubara, a fellow of the Institute and astute manager, excited them with his plans on human capital development and other development initiatives.
Atako, who is also the Chairman of Council of NIM said: “In fact, he was talking so much about the civil service. I have told you that one of our strengths is to develop capacity of the workforce, and we told him that we are interested in the civil service of this state.
“We are interested in building capacity of the workforce because we believe that if you have the right workforce, you’ll be able to have successful system. And if you have a successful system, leadership will be very easy.”
She emphasised: “And when we told him, he bought the idea. He said he was happy about that. He wants a situation where, apart from the infrastructure that he was putting in place, he also wants to build the capacity of the people.”
Atako stated that as an Institute, they were impressed with the giant strides of the leadership of Governor Fubara; the many infrastructural projects, both ongoing and completed, including the welfare packages for civil servants, particularly the Christmas bonus of N100, 000.00.
She pointed out the distinguishing attributes of a great and good leader, which included exhibiting empathy and motivating the workers to become more productive, which were evident in the leadership shown by Governor Fubara.
Atako said they also informed the governor of their forthcoming annual national conference slated to hold in Port Harcourt, which was always used to discuss issues that were of interest to the nation and contribute to the development of the country.
Among those in the delegation were Registrar/Chief Executive of NIM, Mrs Taiwo Olusesi; former National Vice President, Dame Christie Toby; Council Members, Beniah Ojum; Prof. Sylva Opuala-Charles; Zonal Chairman and Chairman LOC NIM ANMC, Pastor Eyo Okpo-Ene; former National Treasurer, Chief Grant Orugbani; and Eze Ekpeye Logbo III, His Imperial Majesty, Kelvin N. Anugwo.