The Lagos State Head of Service, Bode Agoro, says the state public service has continued to advance in recruitment, staff welfare, and innovation.
Speaking at the 2026 Ministerial Press Briefing at Alausa, Agoro who said one hundred and twenty one Permanent Secretaries had been appointed since 2019 while 4,837 newly recruited officers across various cadres were uploaded into the state’s database and deployed to ministries, departments, and agencies between May 2025 and May 2026.
Twenty-five directors were also appointed as substantive permanent secretaries and tutors-general.
He said the Office of the Head of Service issued 84 service-wide circulars on policy guidelines, approved 1,190 travel requests for officers, and organized leadership retreats for directors and permanent secretaries at ASCON and NIPSS.
On welfare, Agoro said the administration paid a N50,000 palliative to public servants in May 2026 and increased monthly pensions for retirees under the defined benefit scheme by N32,000 while Seven hundred and fifty officers with 30 years of service were honored at the 16th Long Service Merit Award.
He also said at the Public Service Week, 177 outstanding officers received plaques and cash gifts, with five senior officers getting new cars and five junior officers winning N5 million each.
Governor Sanwo-Olu also gave one million naira to each remaining senior awardee and N500,000 to junior awardees, totaling N130.5 million.
The Head of Service said 3,216 interns were placed in MDAs under the SIWES/IT scheme, while 237 research requests were approved.
The Public Service Library was upgraded for faster information retrieval, and the centralized staff bus scheme continued operations across the state’s five divisions, with a replacement bus deployed for the Isolo route.
He disclosed that remodeling of the staff canteen into a four-storey multipurpose building was 80 percent complete.
The Adeyemi Bero Auditorium was also upgraded to boost revenue generation.Under housing and loans, Agoro said N1.6 billion was disbursed to 2,033 officers as housing loans in 2025, with N2.5 billion awaiting approval for 2026.
Four hundred and twenty-two officers benefited from car refurbishment loans. He added that a holistic audit of staff quarters identified 988 legal occupants and led to the ejection of 28 illegal occupants.
Agoro said the Office of Transformation, Creativity and Innovation coordinated reforms that helped Lagos score 85.6 percent in the 2025 subnational ease of doing business report, earning recognition from PEBEC as the best subnational for ease of doing business.
The office also trained 876 officers on growth mindset, onboarded 37 new creativity and innovation ambassadors, and held the annual Public Service Ideas Day, where three innovations – EKOscribe, BKind, and SmartBOQ – secured institutional buy-in.
Other activities included the 19th Head of Service Games, business process reviews across 22 professional cadres, and the 2nd HR Summit. Agoro said the post-service directorate continued quarterly training, health screenings, and mentorship for retirees, while monitoring recreation and wellness centers across the state.
He commended public servants for their dedication and professionalism, saying the reforms aligned with the government’s goal of building a more efficient and responsive public service.
