Businesses organisations and individuals having dealings with the various parastatals of Lagos State can look forward to prompt and enhanced services in the days ahead, as the state government has begun a review of all obsolete laws limiting the efficiency of its parastatals.
The review of the parastatals enabling laws will put them in a position for more efficient service delivery to the public towards fulfilling the THEMES agenda of the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
The THEMES is an acronym derived from the six pillars upon which Sanwo-Olu hopes to deliver his electioneering promises to Lagos. They include traffic management and transportation, health and environment, education and technology, making Lagos 21st century economy; entertainment and tourism as well as security and governance (THEMES).
Special adviser to the state governor on Parastals Monitoring Office (PMO), Afolabi Ayantayo, said at a media briefing to mark first anniversary of Sanwo-Olu’s administration, on Wednesday, that the review of the parastatals law is being undertaken in collaboration with the state ministry of justice. When completed, it will bring the parastatals to modern realities.
“In collaboration with ministry of justice (Law Reforms Commission) the office (PMO) has embarked on the review of enabling laws for the parastatals that are either obsolete or hindering their operational guidelines. A total number of 54 enabling laws have been forwarded to the Law Reforms Commission for review,” Ayantayo said.
According to him, the PMO has also undertaken the classification of the parastatals along sectoral obligations so as to allow for proper coordination of their services.
“For proper coordination, parastatals have been classified into sectors based on their enabling law and streamlined into the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda of the present administration.
They have also been classified based on internally generated revenue (IGR) related services and non-IGR related services, with each of them made to understand the importance and necessity of key performance indicators (KPIs) to meet congruent targeted goals within reasonable time frame.”
The classification seen by BusinessDay captured the parastals under broad-based groupings which include traffic management, transportation, environmental sanitation & special offences agency as well as education and technology.
“Parastatal organisations and agencies perform key roles in delivering specific services to the general public in line with the laws that established them and government policy directives. It is, therefore, imperative for parastatals to be effectively and efficiently monitored to ensure that the agencies are being optimally administered and are being run in accordance with the vision of the governor,” the special adviser said.
The office was first established in 1984 as Parastatal Monitoring Unit (PMU) during the military era to monitor and coordinate the activities of all parastatal organisations and government owned companies in Lagos State. Over the years, the PMU metamorphosed into Parastatal Monitoring Office.
As at 1992, there were 19 parastatal organisations in Lagos, but they have today increased to 97 parastatals and agencies, with the PMO saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and ensuring their effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery.
