The Ondo State Head of Service, Pastor Kayode Ogundele, has expressed the preparedness of the state Public Service Training Institute (PSTI) to meet the contemporary needs of state and its environs.
Ogundele made this position known while fielding questions from journalists during an unscheduled visit to the institute in Akure on Wednesday as part of efforts to reposition the public service for optimal service delivery in the state.
He said it was the desire of the state government to use the institute to address the training needs of the state public service.
The head of service commended the management and staff of PSTI for keeping the dreams of establishing the institute live, as well as provision of social services, particularly for the host community.
According to him, the youths are also being encouraged to leverage on the opportunity of the institute to come for skill acquisition training as a way of reducing unemployment.
”This is a very critical government infrastructure that has been planted here. We must ensure that people feel the impact and enjoy the value it is expected to deliver.
“We expect the youths to come for skill acquisition training because it is very important we begin to think out of the box to see how we can encourage those young people around to use the facilities to their advantage,” he said.
Ogundele noted that there was always rewards for hard work and dedication, and charged the staff to continue to work as a team to actualise the purpose of setting up the school.
The head of service, who was a former director-general and permanent secretary of the institute, urged the management to make good use of the opportunity of higher institutions of learning around them for a possible collaboration for some of their programmes.
The Director-General of the Institute, Dr Olumide Asere, appreciated the Head of Service for the visiting the school, adding that it would serve as a morale booster for the management and staff.
”As an institute, we have been doing everything possible to ensure government policies are well executed and that is why the coming of the head of service today is a morale booster for us,” he said.
Speaking, the institute’s Director of Programmes, Mrs Adeyemi Aregbesola, expressed hope that the visit would also help the government to know areas of needed improvement in the facilities of the institute.