No fewer than 140 officials will monitor and assess the efficiency of federal ministries, departments, and businesses forward of the primary evaluation train on the finish of this month.
This is because the officials joined the third technical retreat for supply desk officers of federal ministries on the implementation of presidential priorities and ministerial deliverables in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, which started on Wednesday.
A senior official working carefully with the Central Delivery Coordination Unit headed by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Mrs Hadiza Bala-Usman, revealed that the officers, who would conduct the evaluation, have been drawn from 35 federal authorities ministries, departments and businesses.
“It will involve a permanent secretary and directors of planning and other officials, four each from 35 ministries. They are considering the modalities of the assessment, the key performance indicators and the reporting mechanisms and all of those,” the official who didn’t need to be talked about instructed certainly one of our correspondents.
At the retreat, Bala-Usman echoed President Bola Tinubu’s phrases to individuals when she warned that her principal would sack ministers who failed to carry out their duties.
She famous that Tinubu was poised to ship on his promise of creating life higher and simpler for Nigerians.
Calling for the entire dedication of supply officers and administrators of planning in ministries, Bala-Usman stated, “We should perceive that the President could be very critical about his guarantees and that ministers might be assessed, and ministers might be dropped in the event that they don’t carry out.
“You must understand that as ministerial delivery desk officers, you are the engine room that will provide that feedback, constantly track ministerial progress, and report challenges and bottlenecks to the central coordinating and delivery unit.”
The presidential aide, who dove into the specifics, defined, “In the Ministry of Aviation, we might be assessing FAAN on buyer expertise on the airports; are the escalators, lifts, and conveyor belts purposeful?
“What are the implications of delayed time of departure for airways? These are issues that everyone can really feel and see.
“When talking about agriculture, we want to see our index of fertiliser use per hectare grow because of the attendant investment that has been made in fertiliser interventions.”
On October 17, 2023, Bala-Usman stated her workplace would start a quarterly evaluation of the efficiency of the 48 ministers (now 47) appointed by the President by January 2024.
She stated January can be the most effective interval to start the train as all of the ministries would have obtained their budgets for the 2024 fiscal 12 months.
“We’re looking to commence an assessment of the respective ministries in January 2024. We’re going to have a quarterly assessment of performance, which will culminate into an annual scorecard,” the previous boss of the Nigerian Ports Authority defined in an interview on TVC.
She stated the annual scorecard can be reviewed throughout periodic retreats the place performances can be assessed towards key efficiency indicators.
The three-month interval for the primary analysis will comply with a three-day cupboard retreat for ministers and presidential aides, which was held from November 1 to 3, 2023, the place ministers signed a efficiency bond with the President.
The bond signed by every minister and everlasting secretaries detailed the deliverables every ministry plans to obtain inside the 2024 price range cycle.
“That performance bond is what we’re going to use to track the performance of the ministers,” Bala-Usman had stated.
Lawyers, CSOs remark
Commenting on the event, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, stated the efficiency overview of the ministers shouldn’t be the precedence of the federal government because the nation was in a dire strait.
He acknowledged, “This President must be one in a rush. This nation is battered and tattered. The nation is bleeding. The persons are downtrodden. There is anger and melancholy. There is poverty. There is agony. Nigerians are crying and in abject penury. There is gnashing of tooth throughout the divides in Nigeria.
“How can a bag of rice be promoting at over N55,000 and the Presidency is speaking about assessing ministers? Take a take a look at the naira that’s at the moment in a free fall as a result of we’re subjected to neo-colonial dictates from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“To me, it’s a case of ‘Physician heal thyself’ because the President is making an attempt to heal the ministries. To assess a minister is to know the deliverables. What benchmark did the President set when he appointed the ministers? What was within the All Progressives Congress manifesto as to their deliverables?
“Since the ministers have been sworn in additional than six months in the past, what have they finished? If we take the Ministry of Works, as an example, it is going to be simple to assess what number of roads have been constructed or began or earmarked for graduation. But, for different ministries like particular duties; how will they be assessed?
“As for the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Humanitarian Affairs, how will they assess them? Where is all the money that has been pumped to alleviate poverty? Why is there so much poverty in the land? What number of Nigerians has been brought out of poverty? What are the verifiable indices to show that this has been done? I have already seen some ministers who are not performing at all. Some of them are just there like onlookers.”
On his half, Chief Yomi Alliyu (SAN), faulted the transfer, saying, “In the primary occasion, I don’t see how anybody will assess a minister. The standards are sure to be subjective relatively than goal. This is as a result of ministers are usually not actually those working within the ministries. They are simply policymakers. The civil servants are those who will implement insurance policies. In that occasion, it’s the members of the general public who can assess whether or not a minister is working or not.
“A minister might be hyperactive and corrupt. We have seen ministers use their former corporations as pipes to siphon authorities cash from one other ministry and a few of them are nonetheless serving.
“You will not say because a minister has some media hype, he will score well and perform. Sometimes, it is not the people that you hear of who are the performers in this country. Nobody can evaluate any minister other than members of the public.”
Also reacting, one other senior lawyer, Mr Ebun Adegboruwa (SAN), acknowledged that it was PresidentTinubu himself who wanted to be assessed.
“I don’t think the President has the moral justification for such an assessment. It is the President himself who needs an assessment. The ministers have no direct responsibility to the people of Nigeria. They were not the ones elected. The buck stops on the President’s table. Is it for the insecurity, inflation, or the collapse of the exchange and forex regime?” he queried.
Civil Society Organisations known as on Tinubu to droop ministers who underperform or are discovered to be enmeshed in corrupt practices.
The Chairman of Civil Society Organisations in Rivers State, Enafaa Georgewill, made the decision in an interview with certainly one of our correspondents, including that ministers might be likened to staff who must be held accountable when crucial.
Georgewill acknowledged, “The President will be likened to an employer and if an employer employs an worker and the worker is just not performing as anticipated, he who employed them ought to hearth them and the place there’s a want for warning, disciplinary motion like suspension and different reprimand actions must be taken.
“Until those in authority, and in this case, the President, begin to instil discipline and real governance, as well as social welfare, we will not be able to make real progress. So, yes, the President has the power to reprimand ministers and he should use it.”
The Director of Youths for Change, Taiwo Oyayinka, urged the President to make sure the dismissal of underperforming ministers as he had earlier promised.
He stated, “President Tinubu promised us final 12 months that ministers who underperform can be dismissed; he ought to stand by this cost. Corrupt ministers must be flushed out of the system.
“Such an action will serve as a deterrent to others. There should be no sacred cow in power. All those found culpable should be suspended or dismissed.”
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Segun Sowunmi, stated the evaluation of ministers was a novel concept, however famous that such an endeavour should be holistic.
He stated, “This is the primary time we’ve got heard that ministers are going to be accessed and that there might be penalties after the evaluation, however you recognize something with authorities, particularly in our nation, it’s at all times higher for you to train some warning as a result of for those who have fun early, chances are you’ll simply finish up upset.
“On the surface, it is a good idea; maybe it will help us scale up service delivery. Also, maybe the report of the assessment can serve as a benchmark either for the others or people who will be taking government office.”
The National Secretary of New Nigeria People’s Party, Mr Oladipupo Olayokun, “I think that is the normal thing to do because when you give someone an assignment, you should periodically assess his performance because don’t forget that the President told Nigerians that the ministers would be assessed. It is a departure from what we witnessed in the past eight years, especially given what Nigerians are experiencing under this government.”
The National Director, Media and Publicity of the Labour Party, Dr Yunusa Tanko, stated, “Any minister found wanting shows he or she is not qualified to serve the country. If the President wants to begin to screen his aides, that means he must have presented himself for screening ab initio. He does not have a locus standi to start screening people because if they were screened ab initio, we would have known about their credentials.”
Additional stories by Godfrey George, Victor Ayeni and Daniel Ayantoye
