SERVICE WELFARE OFFICE MAIDEN MANAGEMENT STAFF RETREAT

The Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office (SWO), Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, mni, and the Senior Management Staff of the Service Welfare Office held the maiden Senior Management Staff Retreat at the Federal Treasury Academy, Orozo, Abuja, from 19th – 20th February, 2019. The two-day retreat was attended by about 50 participants, made up of Officers of Grade Level 14 and above in the Service Welfare Office.

The theme of the 2-day Retreat was “Making the Service Welfare Office an Exemplar in Public Service Delivery”.

The Service Welfare Office seeks to develop a 3-year (2019 – 2021) Strategic Plan in order to effectively connect its Mandate with the Vision of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF). This would ensure that all the Key Result Areas targeted at improving the welfare and wellbeing of Civil Servants are adequately covered and that the activities of SWO over the next three years have maximum impact on the welfare and well-being of Federal Civil Servants.

Towards this end, the 2019 Senior Management Staff Retreat of the Service Welfare Office was designed to amongst other things, provide a platform for:

• the Permanent Secretary to unveil her vision with the Management Team of SWO;
• the Senior Management Staff to share a common Vision for the welfare and well-being of Federal Government Employees;
• the Management Team to jointly identify alternative sources of funding for programmes/projects of the Office, other than the normal budgetary allocations; and
• the Management Team to identify public-private sector initiatives that may contribute to the attainment of mandate of the Office.

The Permanent Secretary, in her Keynote Address identified six (6) key focus areas for SWO in 2019 and beyond. She challenged participants to expand the focus areas as part of their activities at the Retreat. She listed some areas in which the Service Welfare Office should develop frameworks, tools and capacities in order to be an exemplar in service delivery as including policy formulation and implementation; capacity development and training; staff performance management; organizational learning and knowledge exchange, team collaboration and information sharing; organizational efficiency; innovation within the rules as well as intra and inter Departmental collaboration. The Permanent Secretary also highlighted her expectations for SWO staff.

Other Technical papers delivered by experts at the Retreat were “Improving Work Ethic Towards Effective Service Delivery” by Gbenga Oloke of the SERVICOM Institute; Planning, Budgeting and Financing Government Welfare Programmes” by the Accountant-General of the Federation; “Alternative Models of Welfare in the Public Service” by the Director General, Nigeria Institute for Social and Economic Research; Stress Management and Work Life Balance: “An Imperative for Federal Government Employees” by Dr. Joseph Amedu, mni of the Federal Ministry of Health and Emotional Intelligence by Pharm. Isaac Onoja he three Departments in the Service Welfare Office as well as the Office of the Permanent Secretary made presentations on their respective Work Plan for 2019.

After extensive deliberations, participants recommended the following:

i. Ensure organizational learning and knowledge exchange through the transformation of work experiences into knowledge that is accessible to the whole Office;

ii. Institutionalize team collaboration and information sharing amongst management;

iii. Attain organizational efficiency by working with the Career Management Office to ensure that the right people with the right skills are posted to SWO;

iv. Innovating within the rules and the use of ICT to deliver welfare initiatives in order to reduce cost and provide timely service delivery;

v. Create synergy for efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery through intra and inter Departmental collaboration;

vi. Expand the focus area of the Service Welfare Office to include other issues that have the capacity to extensively impact on workers welfare;

vii. Review of the SWO Organogram and functions for proper alignment of schedules;

viii. Service Charter should be developed for the Service Welfare Office;

ix. Each Department should create a space for Service Area to interact with members of the public;

x. Explore alternative sources to fund SWO programmes;

xi. Explore opportunities in bilateral agreements between Nigeria and friendly countries, as well as Non-Governmental Organizations to build capacities of Staff;

xii. Build on the established synergy with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation in order to improve the funding window to the Office;

xiii. SWO should in addition to the budget provision in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, have a separate budget line;

xiv. Staff of the Office should be encouraged to make commitments towards personal development to enhance productivity;

xv. Make Emotional Intelligence Programme an integral part of wellness initiative for all Civil Servants;

xvi. Make a case for increased funding to the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board to enable it provide funds for the FISH Programme and loans for Civil Servants; and

xvii. SWO to explore mortgage finance from International Mortgage Institutions

The Retreat set up a team under the chairmanship of the DD (OPS), with membership from the three (3) Departments and OPS; to conclude work on the 3-year Strategy and Implementation Plan for the consideration of the Top Management of the Office.

Participants further agreed that high impact projects and initiatives to be implemented by SWO should be clearly indicated in the proposed Strategic Plan.

The Retreat was organized in collaboration with the office of the Office of the Account and Gneral of the Federation.