The newly sworn-in Head of Service in Lagos State, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, has said his appointment did not come as a surprise to him despite his young age.
Muri-Okunola’s appointment as the state’s 21st Head of Service was announced last Sunday following the retirement of the outgone Head of Service, Folashade Adesoye, on December 27, 2018.
The development, which was at variance with the usual norm of appointing permanent secretaries of older age into such position, however, came as a surprise to many.
Muri-Okunola, as it stands, is the youngest to have assumed such position in the history of Lagos State Public Service.
In a chat with our correspondent on Tuesday at the new year party hosted by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the Lagos House, Ikeja, Muri-Okunola, also known as HMO, said such instance had always been part of him from childhood.
He said: “I have always been the youngest right in all the classes I have schooled.
“Amongst my peers, I have always been the youngest, even right from childhood.
“So, it is not exactly surprising to me that this is happening now.”
While attributing his emergence to faith, destiny and hardwork, he added that he did not just assume such position, but for the statutory retirement of those ahead of him in the civil service.
His words: “A few permanent secretaries that were my seniors retired statutorily and that made the openings available for me to rise to the occasion.
“And it is a challenge that I embrace wholesomely and I intend to rise up to it to meeting the teeming demand of the Lagos populace and to deliver excellent service and to improve the standard of quality service that we have currently in the Lagos Civil Service.”
On what he plans to initiate as the head of Lagos State civil servants, Muri-Okunola said: “We will be moving along the lines of technology innovations, transformation and excellent delivery of services, reduction in bureaucracies and improving the welfare standards of public servants.”
Muri-Okunola, whose father was a revered Justice of the Court of Appeal in Lagos State before he passed on, came into the civil service in the year 2000.
He was the former Executive Secretary, Land Use and Allocation Committee between 2005 and 2011.
Until his appointment, he was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Social Development.