Dr. Mrs Mary Ogbe has taken over as Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
Ogbe, who took over from Dr. Mrs. Oluwatoyin Akinlade today, Friday 2nd June, 2023 in a handing over ceremony at the Minister Conference Room, said she would do her best to take the ministry to greater heights.
The outgoing Permanent Secretary, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade was appointed a Federal Permanent Secretary on 26th August, 2020. She took over from Mr. Sunday Akpan.
Also in August, 2020, Akinlade was appointed a member of the 5th National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) of the Nigerian Extractive Industry and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Board of President Muhammadu Buhari with the mandate to reposition the extractive industries in line with international best practices.
Akinlade is Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons – (FWACS): Fellow of the Medical College of Surgeons (FICS); and fellow, Nigerian Society of Mining Engineers (FNSME).
She would be remembered for placing high premium of personnel wellbeing as key to achieving organizational goals, while she served as Permanent Secretary, MMSD.
This led to an approach that brought about remarkable improvements especially in the areas of staff welfare, improved work-environment and capacity building.
She started by embarking on the payment of 11 years accumulated statutory allowances owed to staff of the Ministry both at the Headquarters and across the thirty-six State offices.
She followed up by ensuring that training of staff was made an integral component of the scope of work for every key projects of the Ministry to enhance capacity building for staff.
It was thanks to her that the moribund staff canteen was refurbished and reorganized to ensure quality service delivery for staff convenience while additional staff buses were provided to alleviate the transportation challenges of staff.
She introduced grand celebration /award-giving day for outstanding performance for selected staff as well as appreciation to retiring officers during the Annual Public Service Day celebration as a way of rewarding excellence and boosting staff morale.
As a medical doctor, Akinlade understands that high performance is only possible in good health, thus, she established a model staff clinic in the office complex with a pharmacy section, laboratory and full compliments of medical personnel to attend to medical needs of her staff towards achieving a healthy workforce and optimal service delivery.
