Dr Samuel Ogbuku, the Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has charged the new directors of the commission to be committed to the mentorship of their subordinates for greater performance.
Ogbuku gave the advice at the end of a two-week course on leadership and performance management for directing staff of the NDDC in Abuja on Thursday.
The course was organised by the Human Resources Department of the commission in collaboration with the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).
Ogbuku also advised the new directors to brace up for the challenges ahead and be ready to do things differently to improve the services.
“Things need to be done differently, by improving services and to take up challenges, meaning we have to start with the staff first and ensure that all the staff are properly trained and they understand their role.
“One thing that is lacking in public service is the inability for public servants to have mentors, sometimes we make the wrong choice of role models in our area of operation, you need to look at a successful administrator and make such your mentor.
“This will make you excel in your field and you should be able to mentor your younger colleagues. Some of your actions may affect them. You must learn to be patient, understanding before making harsh decisions,” Ogbuku said.
He said that the training was to bring back experience of the new directors to the commission to improve on the administration and ensure that things were done differently.
Ogbuku said that the new directors need to understand their role, boundaries, strength, when to use them and when not to, as well to understand that they are public and civil servants.
“Civil servants should understand that they are not politicians and have no business there. I believe that you understand the boundaries in areas you should not go into.
“Over the years we have seen situations where some staff of NDDC are seen to be more of politicians than civic servants but as directors who have been inducted into ASCON I believe you are not just ambassadors but good ambassadors.
“I never had the opportunity to pass through ASCON but all inductees of ASCON usually understand and behave alike. All of us in NDDC will go through ASCON,” he said.
Ogbuku commended ASCON for organising the training, saying that the knowledge gained would help their career.
Director General of ASCON, Mrs Cecilia Gayya, urged the participants to contribute their quota to the growth and development of the commission by leveraging on all they learnt from the training.
Gayya described the training as an important platform for better performance and understanding of their jobs.
“Training as you all know, is essentially an activity that is designed to make an employee more efficient and productive in the performance of his/her duties.
“The focus of this training is on the job performance in terms of efficient and effective application of knowledge, skills and attitude for improved performance.
”When a nation or an organisation develops the capabilities of its workforce, it can create other necessary capacities for effective and responsible service delivery,” she said.
Gayya also commended the management of the commission for organising the training and urged other agencies to emulate the initiative, adding, ”it pays to train employees for better performance.”
(NAN)