Lagos State Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions, Mrs Ajibola Ponnle, in this interview with OMOBOLA TOLU-KUSIMO, speaks on how Lagos is able to pay above the new national minimum wage, clearing of pension backlog, and how the state intends to develop a 21st-century workforce.
You came into office in August 2019. What did you meet on the ground?
In Lagos, we are fortunate to be one of the most advanced state governments in terms of establishment, training and welfare of employees. What we met on ground when we came in was quite positive.
There were quite a few reforms that had taken place over the last seven years within the service that was actually spearheaded by the Office of Transformation, Creativity and Innovation within the state service.
So there were quite a few innovative changes that were already on the ground. For instance, we were one of the few state governments to have a human resources office. We recognise human resources as a profession within the state service.
How did the human resources office come about?
In the past, it was finance and administration but there were certain reforms that took place, especially a particular budget called SPARK, which was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID).
They look into the human resource value chain within the service in the state and there were some very critical changes that were recommended as a result of that budget.
One of them was to create an office called Directorate of Admin and Human Resources, recognising HR as a cadre within the service and also setting up several offices under that particular directorate, including the learning development units, workforce planning and few other units which hitherto were not in existence within the service.
But this was all towards advancing the course of how to manage human resources within the public service. That’s what I met on the ground and quite a few other innovative ideas. But for this administration, we are blessed and fortunate to have a governor who also worked in this office.
Governor Babjide Sanwo-Olu was former Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pension and so he has a passion to ensure that the welfare of the workforce is properly looked into.
So, one of the first things he asked was the minimum wage issue and he directed that we should ensure that it is resolved as quickly as possible to alleviate the working conditions. Based on this, the first thing we did was to meet with the various unions.
Is Lagos paying the new minimum wage?
Lagos is the first state in the Southwest to implement and pay the new minimum wage, which is way above the N30,000 recommended national minimum wage.
Minimum wage is in line with the governor’s campaign promise that no matter how small, Lagos will pay above the national average. Presently, Lagos State minimum wage is N35,000 and consequential adjustments were made all the way to grade-level 17, that is higher than the national average.
The first payment was in November while the second payment was made before Christmas. The third has been made in January. We believe it is a significant achievement that we are the first state in the South and that beyond this, we are actually able to pay something that is worthwhile above minimum wage.
How did the state manage it?
With the minimum wage negotiation that we did, we retained the number of staff we had because we also recognised the social welfare part of our mandate as a government.
We are deliberate about ensuring that we keep the number of personal working within the service and not to let go of any staff. Lagos has over 120,000 workers and apart from the Federal Government, we’re the highest single employer of labour in the country.
But how trained are the workers?
We have resuscitated our training plan. We have trained over a thousand people in the last few months. We are ramping up the rate and the pace of the training within the service across the board which started in December and has continued into 2020.
We are trying to ensure that our training is more specific to the needs of various MDAs within the service. What we did in order to achieve this is to take our directors of human resource, admin and HR and also the Learning and Development (L&D) officers through what we call the ‘HR boot camp’.
It’s a three-day highly intensive programme for every single director of admin and HR that was conducted. We are going to ensure that we measure and manage the performance of staff within the service, issuing them a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and ensuring that their objectives are smart and ensure the appraisal process works and runs effectively.
We want to have a comprehensive list of job descriptions. This is a little bit of a departure from what was done before as expectations from this very key and critical set of people within the service. These are the key achievements of the Office of Training and Establishment.
We have ramped up the training for all staff. We have also tried to identify new training needs, new jobs that we don’t have within the service right now and to identify the people that would go on that training. For instance, we just sent a dentist to do masters in forensic dentistry.
Once he goes through that master, which is in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, he will be the first forensic dentist in the whole of West Africa. So, we recognise this as a need for Lagos State and it will ensure that we stay ahead.
What are you doing about pension backlog?
I am extremely proud about what we have achieved on pension so far. Quite a significant approval was sought from the Executive Council and was approved. As you know we have a huge backlog of pension payouts to people who have retired from service.
This isn’t a problem that was caused by us or by the past administration but it is a situation that came out of the way pension was managed before the Pension Reform Act was passed in 2007. Before 2007, all state governments were running a Defined Benefit Scheme.
One thing that this particular administration did was to cashback an amount of N13.75 billion, which is an additional amount put into the pension pot where the redemption bonds would be paid out from. This covers those people in core civil service.
A total of N750 million out of the N13.75 billion is for the retired head of service and permanent secretaries to augment their pension pot as well. What was also approved was the rate of payout of pension. In the past, we had five per cent of emolument which the government was contributing to the redemption bond.
The rate has now been increased to 10 per cent. These things have been done in addition to the N200 million paid to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in order to take care of the backlog.
We hope that by the end of the first term of this administration, we would have cleared the backlog. By the end of 2023, the plan is that we would have cleared the entire backlog from accrued rights. Right now, I believe we have cleared it up to 2017.
Are these for pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS)?
Yes. The pensioners in core civil service have been managed under this office. There are no pensioners here agitating for payouts. The ones that you find in the DBS will be people in the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Local Governments and some circumvented agencies which for some reasons, we have not been able to payout as we ought to.
But the people under us here as core civil service do not have any issue. They have been dealt with as they come along, even to the extent of the increases that have been done over the years. It’s been provided for. Payments have been made as and when due to those who apply.
Are you aware that some pensioners are asking for pension increase based on the fact that salaries have been increased overtime?
Yes, I am aware and the increases have been done systematically. I know that with this particular minimum wage increase there’s a fresh agitation to increase the pension again.
And I think the proposal by the Nigerian Union of Pensioners is a 33 per cent increase. We are currently looking into it. It’s a fresh submission. As you know, any increase is guided by two principles. One is ability to pay and two is sustainability.
The state had said it will commence free bus for pensioners among other welfare packages. Can you give us an update?
In order to support the welfare of pensioners who have served the state meritoriously, we are looking at a situation whereby the pensioners over the age of 60 can access the mass transportation services for free. We are looking at starting it this year.
We don’t have a commencement date yet but preparations are being made to ensure this happens. Health insurance is another thing we are looking at but it’s a little more complex than the transportation service. Again we are trying to ensure that whatever it is that is being offered will be adequate.
It is still in the works. But the transportation of these elderly people is what is on the front burner for now. However, we have other activities that we do to make them happy.
Our pensioners’ day celebration which we had in December was full of fun. We gave them awards, gifts and their meal was from a top-notch caterer. My mother was a pensioner in Lagos hence my passion for pensioners.
The state has spent so much to train and retrain its workers but citizens and residents still think some workers misbehave and act unethically. Would you say the training is making any impact on the workers?
There are two concepts. There is a concept of training and concept of learning. You can train and people you train do not learn.
So what you are asking is how we evaluate the return on investment to ensure that there is a learning transfer? It goes back to the HR boot camp that we did and those are the reasons we felt it was necessary to ensure that everyone in charge of L&D understands the need to evaluate the training afterwards.
It’s not just enough for you to go on training but there is a process that takes place after the person gets back to office to ensure that there is learning transfer.
Do you get feedback from the public?
I agree with you that we need to get feedback from the people which is why I said we are collating specific needs and generic needs that our staff members have. For instance, we ran a program for clinical empathy.
This a programme for service healthcare workers because we have this feedback that the manner in which some of our health care officials treat patients is not particularly best practice. We are getting this feedback and incorporating it into the training program we have for our staff.
Beyond the training is the monitoring and evaluation, which is very critical. One of the core strategic trusts of this administration is making Lagos a 21st century economy and we recognise that for you to have a 21st century economy, you need a 21st century workforce.
We have taken that mandate to look at what we need to do, the changes we require within the service to deliver in a 21st century economy.
What are your targets?
I would like to see a strengthened human resource cadre. I believe that one of the major things to do to make a huge difference in the service that we provide as is to manage our human resource collectively, not just because I’m a human resource professional. I actually started off as an accountant.
HR is just one of my professions that I have passion for because if you look at the financial aspect, you can have money, technology, equipment and more; if you don’t have the right people to manage your finances, you still would not have an organisation that is successful.
So, it’s important for us to get that right – from bringing people, managing performances properly, succession planning and all the key elements of the human resource value chain that cuts across the four MDAs under my ministry.
What access to learning do workers have?
One other thing that we are doing within the first quarter of this year that we should be able to deploy, is the learning management system, which is an e-learning platform for Lagos civil service.
It is our hope that by the end of this administration, every single staff member working within civil service will have access to learning. We are deploying a learning management system that will ensure all staff have access to at least the basic compulsory learning modules that are required within the service.
That for us will not only widen the reach of our learning offerings but reduce the cost significantly. They will have the apps on their phones or laptops and we will also create the space. For me that’s quite exciting because of the reach that it will have.
Some states are yet to agree with minimum wage. What are your thoughts?
Salary and wages are two key principles guided by the ability to pay and sustainability. The fact that some states have not yet paid is not necessarily because they do not want to. But the truth is that many states are not able to. There are so many states owing salaries.
We are just fortunate in Lagos. You will be surprised that Lagos is one of the few states that pay on the dot. Month in month out, by 23rd, payments are paid. When you have states struggling to pay current wages and you are now adding to it, then it is clear that they will not be able to.
It all depends on the state’s ability to generate internal revenue and the choices and decision made in the past. Investment is made to generate income in years. So, if that investment has not been made in the past, you can’t expect to generate it now.