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Sanwo-Olu and others during the launch of LMS E-portal for training of workers |
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu launched the e-portal on
Wednesday at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
The initiative is one the outcomes of a reform introduced by
the Sanwo-Olu administration in the State’s civil service to leverage innovation
and technology in driving radical change in the public sector and addressing
capacity deficit, enhance efficiency and competence among civil servants.
LMS is a technology-driven platform developed with Envivo
Communications – a tech firm – to enhance capacity development in the public
workforce through continuous training. From the platform, the State Government
can seamlessly administer, document, track report and deliver educational
courses and training programmes for staff in civil service.
The innovation phases out low training quota in the State’s
civil service, in which Lagos Government, prior to the Sanwo-Olu
administration, used to train an average of 3,000 staff in four years. With the
introduction of LMS, the State can successfully train an average of 50,000
staff of its workforce in a year.
Already, 42,446 of the State’s over 150,000 civil servants
have been on-boarded on the e-learning portal.
Launching the platform, Sanwo-Olu said the innovation would
raise the bar of service delivery among the civil servants, stressing that the
platform would expose the personnel to a wide spectrum of opportunities for
enhanced competence and efficiency.
He said: “Our administration places a premium on the
competence of the Public Service to deliver government policies, strategies and
programmes for the benefit of the people. It is, therefore, necessary that we
equip our public service personnel with the requisite skills and learning tools
needed to thrive in a 21st century economy and a knowledge-based environment.
“The launch of the Learning Management System, today, is a
crystallization of the reform process, which our administration initiated to
improve service delivery in public administration and governance. It is
commendable that the public service personnel have embraced the innovation,
which will further enhance their capacity to deliver quality and timely service
to citizens of our State.
“It is encouraging to know that 42,446 public servants from
the various Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Parastatals have been
on-boarded on the platform, which has a variety of learning contents with over
4,000 free, self-enrollment courses and 8,000 courses from the LinkedIn
Learning Library.”
Sanwo-Olu encouraged members of the State’s workforce that
are yet to sign up on the platform to do so, pointing out that the platform
would offer them opportunities of international standards in their quest for
personal and professional development.
The Governor pledged that his administration would not
relent providing opportunities for career enhancement, trainings and personal
development programmes for the State workers.
“As we intensify efforts to make Lagos a 21st century
economy, our workforce will be equipped with what it takes to contribute their
quota to global development and we will ensure that our developmental
activities are driven by cutting edge knowledge, innovation and technology,”
Sanwo-Olu said.
The Governor commended the Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem
Muri-Okunola, and staff of the Ministry of Establishments, Training and
Pensions for bringing the innovation to reality. He said the State Government
was set to make free monthly data available for civil servants on their mobile
phones.
In her speech, Commissioner for Establishments, Training and
Pensions, Ajibola Ponnle said the dream of the LMS in Lagos State Public
Service was handed to her shortly after she took office by the Head of Service
who had started discussions with the consultants.
She said implementing a learning management systems for the
government was not just to have a global trend, but a radical change that was
at the root of repairing public service delivery failures in the State.
Ponnle added that the government used the COVID-19 lockdown
as an opportunity to fast track our online training strategy with its first
ever webinar series, tagged the ‘Resilience series’ where government called on experts
from around the country in diverse fields to share knowledge with its staff.
“We started with a small class of 100 and quickly grew to a
class size of 1500 due to the
high demand and appetite for public servant to learn. I
believe that we set the pace for other States and indeed the Federation with
this initiative.
“The LMS we are launching today is the first of its kind in
the Nigerian Public Service. One of the major challenges the administration
faced was a very low penetration of training nominations. In the 4 years prior
to the present administration, Lagos State trained an average of 3000 staff at
the office of Establishments and Training.
“With the LMS, which is an online software application for
the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, and delivery of
educational courses and training programs, we have successfully onboarded
42,446 on to the platform, thanks to our online learning partner, Envivo,” she
said.
Ponnle stated that an LMS without content is like having a
library without books, saying not only did the Lagos State workforce have
access to over 1,000 basic courses provided by Envivo iClass suite, the
governor also magnanimously approved partnership with one of the best content
libraries in the world, LinkedIn Learning.
She said this gave the workforce access to over 8,000 global
best practice courses, certificate programs in various disciplines curated by
the best minds and experts in their various fields.
Ponnle said she was confident that in spite of these
turbulent times around the world, Lagos State stayed on top, playing a vital
role even in its bureaucratic process and ensuring its workers were well
equipped to perform their roles and deliver service to the citizens.
“As you are aware, since the year began, level 1-12 officers
have worked from home, what this LMS provides, is an opportunity for officers
to use this time to sharpen their skills and broaden their knowledge in view of
their return to working full time,” she said.
HOS, Muri-Okunola said the LMS marked a distinct paradigm
shift from the instituted traditional training methods to an interdisciplinary
format, which leveraged ICT to effectively impart knowledge with limited
resources.
He said: “The State Government takes this giant stride in
providing this robust learning platform, which will not only motivate the State
workforce, but will positively influence the standard and quality of service
delivery significantly. It is pertinent that all public servants are well
informed about the platform and have a good understanding of how to navigate
through its portals.”
In demonstrating the seamless navigation on the e-learning
portal, Sanwo-Olu took the first course on capacity building and got real time
assessment on the spot.