The 22nd Head of Service (HoS) in Lagos, Bode Agoro, officially took office on Tuesday, following the voluntary resignation of Hakeem Muri-Okunola from the Lagos State Public Service.
During his inaugural address to civil servants at the welcoming ceremony, Mr. Agoro expressed gratitude to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for entrusting him with this responsibility. He also extended his appreciation to his predecessor, Mr. Muri-Okunola, for the honor of serving in this role.
Mr. Agoro pledged to uphold the principles and priorities set by his predecessor during his tenure. These include a steadfast commitment to ensuring the continued well-being, welfare, and the provision of a conducive working environment for the entire workforce.
Additionally, he affirmed his dedication to ensuring that all public servants under the state government continue to benefit from the fruits of democracy.
In his words, “Welfare of public servants is a priority because things are very hard and difficult for everyone, we need to make life better for everyone by ensuring that we cascade down adequate welfare to public servants. Welfare to me is two things, personal and professional, professional is constant training and retraining of staff, because if you do not train the civil servants, who are the backbone of the government, you are creating a problem in the system.”
The HoS stressed that he intends to lay emphasis on the training, welfare and conducive working environment for all the civil servants in the state. Agoro, however, implored the state’s workforce to cooperate with their respective permanent secretaries on issues affecting the discharge of their statutory duties instead of keeping it to themselves.
He advised them not to rest on their oars by ensuring that they work hard and continue to raise the bar.
Earlier in her welcome address, the permanent secretary, Public Service Office, Sunkanmi Oyegbola appreciated everyone for their resilience and commitment to taking the state public service to greater heights.
Agoro was employed into the civil service of the Lagos State Government in July 2003. Upon his employment, he worked in Lands Bureau as the director of land services between 2003 and 2005 and director of land regularisation between 2006 and 2015 before his appointment as the permanent secretary, Lands Bureau on August 2, 2015.
Before his employment into the civil service, he was the legal officer for Legal Technologies Limited, London between 1999 and 2000.
