MATTHEW OTOIJAGHA
The Risk Managers Society of Nigeria (RIMSON) has been commended for championing risk management education and awareness in the country.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, FCA, NPOM, in a Goodwill Message while declaring open the 2018 National Risk Management Confab in Abuja, lauded RIMSON for its roles especially the choice and timing of its conference theme.
She stated that ‘‘the theme for this year’s conference ‘Risk Management and Nation Building – Transforming National Challenges to Opportunities’ is very relevant, considering the various challenges facing our nation at this crucial time”
She said “Government certainly needs your support as Risk Managers to effectively pre-empt most of the national challenges, be it natural disaster like flash floods ravaging several parts of the country or other socio-economic problems”.
The Guest of Honour was of the view that the application of risk management solutions to the wide spectrum of our national challenges, holds out huge potentials. According to her, “for proffering solutions that could prevent or turn those adversities to opportunities”.
Mrs. Oyo-Ita urged that the task of nation-building is a collective one stating that ‘‘together, we will all continue to strive towards addressing the challenges of our country in their diverse forms.
A statement by RIMSON’s Media Consultant, Joseph Obah, noted that while driving
home her views, the flag-bearer of the Civil Service of the Federation, Oyo-Ita shared some of the efforts from her office in confronting the challenges in the Federal Civil Service.
“We have designed a Four-year Strategic Plan tagged “2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan” to combat various challenges facing the Civil Service. One of the core areas of the Plan is to launch a strategic sourcing of identified skills by bringing into the Service external talents to drive high-level impacts in some of our reform areas via partnership, especially in the area of affordable, but befitting housing for Civil Servants.
Throwing more light on the housing strategy, Mrs. Oyo-Ita buttressed the fact that housing is next to food in man’s hierarchy of needs. She said that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in cognizance of this fact had approved the 2017-2020 Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, which comprises eight (8) priority areas one of which is to enhance the value proposition of the Civil Servants by improving their access to affordable housing.
The Head of Civil Service said that RIMSON is uniquely positioned to be one of the collaborators which the Service craves, especially in the area of providing advocacy through its awareness campaign programs in the quest to attract counterpart support from both Federal and State Government Agencies for the provision of land and necessary primary infrastructure in order to help reduce the cost of housing.