This former head of service in Lagos state and two term public officer of the Local Government Service is no doubt a guru in civil/public service matters.
He served his first term in the commission between 1992-1996 and returned again for a second term in this great commission as its chairman.
Governor Ambode had recognized the vast experience and competence of this illustrious son of Ikorodu in local government matters to reappoint him to chair the commission. Ever since he assumed this post, a lot of reforms have been going on in the consternation of some people who never gave him the chance to succeed and those oppose to posture changes in the system. Among all this non well-wishers are some Ikorodu people who are aggrieved and alleged that Rotinwa did not help his kinsmen and women when he was in office strategic position. Hence this second coming in the commission for another five year term has raised a lot of skepticism.
There is a lot to be said about this public service guru. His simplicity, humility, versatility and above all dedication and love for his job and whatsoever he is involved in. Rotinwa was employed into the State Government Service in January 1976 as an Inspector of Education. Due to his interest and passion to serve people at the grass root, he was transferred to the Unified Local Government Service as an administrative officer and within 24 calendar months, Babatunde Rotinwa was appointed Council Manager by the first Civilian Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande in January 1980. He later became the Director General/Permanent Secretary of Local Government Commission and in 1998 was appointed Head of Service.
In November 2016, after he was appointed the Chairman Local Government Service Commission by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode he obtained a meritorious award as prestigious Fellow of the institute of Public Administration of Nigeria (IPAN) in 2016 is currently the Chairman of IPAN.
He is an advocate of inclusiveness in municipal service in Lagos State.
This newspaper decided to give an exclusive interview with this Guru. He proved every inch an interviewer’s delight, being eloquent, vastly knowledgeable and a powerful speaker in impeccable English.
Q: How long have you being the chairman of Lagos State Local Government Service Commission?
A: By November 2nd, 2017, we will be marking second anniversary of my appointment as the Chairman of Lagos State Government of Service Commission which takes care of twenty local government and thirty seven (37) Local Council Development Areas (LCDAS).
Q: What is the relationship between you and the Governor in getting this appointment?
A: I just had the privilege of working with him. I regard him as a very shrewd public servant and a very accountable person who gets result in good time. We enjoyed working with each other during the time he worked as treasurer of local government and I worked as the permanent secretary of local government service commission.
I moved from there to the Governor’s office and I was the head of service. Throughout that time, I kept watching the staff I worked with and I noticed he was one of the best officers we had at that time.
Q: Have you ever tried to throw in the towel or resign because of pressure of the grass root?
A: One cannot throw in the towel because essence of our coming is to complement the effort of his Excellency. He’s doing a very good job. I tip him for a second term because he has done many things during the two years of his administration and still counting.
Our own major functions include to employ people to work in the Local Government, take care of their training, discipline, posting and eventually take care of them after retirement. We have been encouraging our staff to change the image of the Local Government and the image has changed dramatically. We do that by giving them relevant training, improvement of their welfare and performance level. We have visited all the fifty seven local government to assess what they are doing and we have told them in plain languages that the first important thing is to regard the welfare of their staff as being a paramount importance.
The Local Government is team work which involve all members from the Head to the least joining hands to make the Local Government work. The policy of the Local Government is to make Local state become a megacity and we are even moving from that now to a very decent environment that could attract investment and we have a role to play. Our major role would be based on ensuring that people, who will work for this investors, will come from the grass roots.
Q: People describe you as an encyclopedia of the Civil Service from the bottom of the ladder to the Head of Service. Was it part of the reason the Governor picked you for this opposition?
A: To God be the glory. I think I have what it takes and I can deliver what is expected of me and make sure that people, who are beneficiaries of our services, enjoy them. The advantage of working in the Local Government is that you are closer to the people and know how they feel. So when you find yourself representing them at the state level, you will be able to present their cases so that their yearning will be met. In the Local Government, we do a lot of consultations with the stakeholders whose interest we have to protect.
Q: How do you balance your work and social activities?
A: If you get admitted on level (08) which is the entry point for graduate into the public service and you make your choice that you want to be part of the system, throwing files in the office does not really affect the seriousness of any officer.
What is important is what comes out of that minutes file. Is the result fair to everybody? Are you getting the result and carrying others along? Is it benefiting the staff? Comparing yourself with your job and the output is a matter of choice.
When I started this job in 1976 as a teacher before I transferred my service, I made up my mind that I would stay in Nigeria. I am a scientist by training and I didn’t do Public Administration but I understood the profession and the rest is history.
The State Government sponsored me to Japan, Australia, Germany, U.S.A and we saw they were doing there and brought those that and brought those that are implementable back home.
You also need to go to archives, library and also, read magazines and journals to see how government runs.
Q: What legacy do you want to leave as the chairman of Local Government Service Commission?
A: I want to be remembered for promotion of human capacity development and enhanced capacity building of Local Government employees by encouraging and mobilizing them to acquire prerequisite qualification and ICT towards digitalizing vital operations of the Local Government in Lagos State including positive transformation of municipal services provided by all local governments through provision of conducive working environment, staff development, capacity building and sustainable staff welfare.
Q: People from Ikorodu have been accusing you that you don’t assist people from the area, what can you say about that?
A: There is nobody that comes my way from Ikorodu that I won’t help. Who is who in Ikorodu knows that I am helping them, they come physically, some write notes, some send words to me but some people think because my man is there, they should be promoted for what they’ve not done but I don’t do that. I don’t encourage indolence. We have five (5) divisions, fifty seven (57) local governments if I am not supposed to be chairman of Ikorodu Local Government Service Commission of Lagos State Local Government Service Commission. Anybody can say anything, but I know I am trying my best.
Q: What are the reforms you have made in the last two years?
A: The achievements so far, are numerous to the glory of God. I also want to appreciate and commend the Commission Members, Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Administration (HOAs), Human Resource Officers (HROs) and all members of staff of the unified local government for their dedication, love and team spirit towards the success and the reforms made so far.
It is worthy of mention that for the first time in /history /of the commission, promotion briefings were held at divisional levels (IBILE) for HOAs, HROs and establishment officers in all the 57 LG/LCDA in order to ensure to ensure that all eligible officers for year 2016 and 2017 were adequately informed and abreast of what is expected of them during the promotion examination.
Similarly, consideration and approvals were given for promotion, advancement, conversion, discipline, training and other establishment matters.
Also, we identified new ways of improving the revenue generating by the local government. I am proud and happy to inform you that the revenue rose from 10% to 75% between June 2016 to date.
Training and re-training of our staff also got a boost. About six thousand (6,000) officers have gone on different training programs in order to have them perform better and be at par with their contemporaries international
Q: Has anyone gotten on your nerves as far as the job is concern?
A: No, I have the maturity and experience required for the job. And besides, I am here to support the good works of His Excellency. If your son becomes the Governor of a state and he is doing well, you would support him one hundred percent.
Q: Why is it difficult for the Governor to give a green light to employ more people in the local government?
A: It is important to note at this junction, that to solve unemployment problem is not a day job so therefore, we have decided to start somewhere and to this end Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has approved the recruitment of about 1,500 graduates into the Unified Local Government Service. This is a step in the right direction and we owe him a lot of gratitude for this wonderful dispensation to have new hands in the state local government.
We want to maximize the efforts of the staff and we are very pleased with the number of people employed. The new officers should realize that we are running a new government and everybody must contribute his or her quota to commensurate with what he/she is being paid for.
Q: What can people do to upset you?
A: I am a senior citizen and I know out of fact and experience that everybody would not praise you. A lot of people would offend you and if you get annoyed, you are simply destroying yourself. You must learn how to maintain normal blood pressure
Q: Is it because you are wealthy that you are looking so young at 72, what’s the secret?
A: It is God’s grace and I don’t get annoyed over anything. I am not a poor man but in do things in moderation. Although, a way to stay out of temptation is to worship God.
Q: What is your best food?
A: My best food is eba. I am a typical Ijebu man
Q: Do you belong to any social club?
A: I belong to several of them, ranging from Island Club, Ikoyi club, Ikorodu club, Oriwu club and Eko Club
Q: What do you do to relax?
A: I listen to Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey’s Music. I also listen to /news and watch television
Q: How would you describe the Governor?
A: He is a fantastic fellow and we are lucky to have him. In terms of security and infrastructure, he has performed very well. I pray God will continue to protect him and guide him. He’s a man of his words, he made a promise to the people of Lagos State and he is fulfilling the promises with total devotion and good management of the little resources at his disposal, being a chartered accountant, he is a community oriented person and he is fixated with trying to address the problems of the grassroots.
Q: When you wake up in the morning, what do you do?
A: I give praise to Almighty Allah because he has brought us to this world to serve him. I find time to do my prayer and go into my library to pick up a list of some of the things I didn’t do yesterday, so that I make sure they are done and I get ready to go to work. I get to work, the first thing I do is to attend to everybody waiting to see me at the office and if they have issues, I will direct them to the appropriate officer.
Q: What do you think was responsible for the huge success of the APC in the last Local Government elections?
A: We are all benefitting from the good name of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. He was particular about keeping all the promises he made to the people. His achievements are evidences of what people voted for and not the APC or individual contestants. If Governor Ambode had not done well, it would have been difficult to sell that party to everybody.
Q: Being a resource person at the two-day seminar organized for local government chairmen, you advised them about being prudent with their resources but they weren’t comfortable with that and complained about paucity of funds, what do you have to say about that?
A: We are watching the local governments and we are going to guide them to perform. We are going to assist them with good staff. We will not spare any staff that disobeys administrative /and financial regulation to bring the local government/LCDA to disrepute. Therefore accountability should be the watch word for both the elected