The Lagos State Government has empowered officers of the Lagos State Pension Commission on innovative application of computing skills for higher efficiency.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode who spoke at the opening session of the workshop tagged: ‘Refresher Course on Computing and Digital Applications’ LASPEC said it is well known that digitization is transforming our society and the way we work.
Represented by the Commissioner, Ministry of Establishment, Training and Pension, Dr. Akintola Benson stated that as is well known, the government fully recognizes the enormous value that knowledge and skills training bring to bear on the attainment of the strategic objectives of the government and the public service of Lagos State.
He said: “Also, the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions has always been in the vanguard of advocating for the institutionalization of essential training programs that benefit the most strategically-placed officers in the public service.
‘‘Just like most people working, all civil servants need a basic level of ICT skills to carry out everyday tasks, deliver services and engage with outside actors. Some people, such as the officers of LASPEC also need more advanced skills to use data for policy modeling, evaluation, data analytics and data mining to support policy, service delivery and impact evaluation.
“Furthermore, civil servants need to learn project management, as well as how to engage with people they serve through participatory processes. Some have indeed argued that deepening digital skills and sharing knowledge and information is the key to transforming the public sector.
‘‘Findings have shown that technology continues to become more vital to civil servants’ work. The proportion of civil servants who feel that tech is enabling them to deliver better services has risen each year since 2015, and 97 per cent see tech as either an enabler or a necessity in their work.
“Greater sharing in Government would improve services. Almost all civil servants believe sharing more information will benefit the services they provide to citizens, with just six per cent indicating they do not think it would improve their function.
‘‘Civil Servants want to provide citizens with world-class digital transactions. Most civil servants (79%) agree that there is an appetite amongst citizens for conducting more interactions with Government online, but existing systems and working practices prevent them from doing so.
‘‘These findings, even if they may not be wholly extrapolated into Nigeria or Lagos State, will represent the main thrust of the leanings in our public services as well. There is therefore the need to embark on a continuous exercise of training and re-training public servants on the innovative use of computing applications and digital skills in the dynamic age we live in”, he added.