- NIWA organises retreat for staff
From Emmanuel Adeyemi Lokoja
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Magdalene Ajani, has said there is so much money for Nigeria to tap in the ocean blue economy more than that of the crude oil saying much has to be done to achieve this.
The Permanent Secretary made this disclosure on Tuesday in Lokoja during a two day retreat for top management staff of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) with theme of the retreat entitled” Repositioning National Inland Waterways Authority for Excellence”
She said the country has been losing a lot for not tapping the several diverse resources that could be derived through the blue economy but expressed joy that president Bola Tinubu has expressed his administration’s determination to invest heavily in the blue economy so as to diversify our economy to better the lots of Nigerians .
While saying the retreat was organised to enhance the service delivery of the organisation and to acquaint the top management of the federal civil service performance management system so as to improve on their productivity.
The Permanent Secretary said all the staff must key into the new agenda Mastro of the federal government by embracing a robust and effective delivery system and eschew the old order of indolence and complacency saying henceforth every department will be measured through their Keep Performance Indicators ( KIP).
She said at the end of the retreat all participants including the general managers and Area managers are expected to sign a performance bond with the managing director who in turn has signed the performance bond with the Minister who also signed the bond with president Bola Tinubu who she said was desirous to change the overall well-being of the masses.
Dr Ajani also called on all the staff to eschew the attitude of ‘pull down syndrome’ but to work assiduously as a team to ensure the new managing director succeeds.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the managing director/ CEO of NIWA, Mr Bola Oyebanji said the aim of the retreat was to discuss and have a working template upon which the aspirations of Mr President on
inland Waterways, through the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, will be achieved.
“As I said about three months ago in my inaugural address to the management and staff of the Authority, the objectives of NIWA are achievable, and with our collective determination, they will be achieved. However, all of us must be willing to play our roles as expected. So I charged all the General Managers, Deputy General Managers, the Area Managers to brace up for the work ahead
“As the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy and the Permanent Secretary have signed a performance bond with Mr President, I have equally signed my performance bond with the Honourable Minister and the Permanent. Same way, all of you must sign a performance bond with me as a promise to deliver on your mandates. It is important for you to do this with every sense of responsibility as it will determine our working relationship going forward.
“In this retreat, nothing should be held back. Every participant in this retreat has been carefully selected in light of the assignment at hand. Accordingly, every opinion is important. Your contributions at this retreat are part of what we require to have a successful journey as an organisation.
“Dear colleagues, it is important for me to equally use this opportunity to re-emphasise the need for teamwork. Like the popular African proverb says, ‘if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together’. The era of individual glory is gone.
“In this new era, NIWA is one; therefore, we must all work in unity for its growth. That is why we have decided to have all of us under the same roof for collaboration and team bonding. We are expected to interact freely and share ideas without any reservations,” he added.