A total of 140 officials have been appointed by the federal government to track and assess the performance of federal ministries, departments, and agencies.
Gatekeepers News reports that this is coming ahead of the first assessment exercise scheduled to be held at the end of this month.
This is as the officials joined the third technical retreat for delivery desk officers of federal ministries on the implementation of presidential priorities and ministerial deliverables in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, which began on Wednesday.
According to a senior official working closely with the Central Delivery Coordination Unit headed by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, the officers who would conduct the assessment, were drawn from 35 federal government ministries, departments and agencies.
The official who wishes to stay anonymous said, “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.”
At the retreat, Bala-Usman reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s words to participants, warning that her principal would sack ministers who failed to perform their duties.
She noted that Tinubu was poised to deliver on his promise of making life better and easier for Nigerians.
Bala-Usman, while calling for the total commitment of delivery officers and directors of planning in ministries, said, “We must understand that the President is very serious about his promises and that ministers will be assessed, and ministers will be dropped if they don’t perform.
“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, explained, “In the Ministry of Aviation, we will be assessing FAAN on customer experience at the airports; are the escalators, lifts, and conveyor belts functional?
“What are the consequences of delayed time of departure for airlines? These are things that everybody can 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 said her office would begin a quarterly assessment of the performance of the 48 ministers (now 47) appointed by the President by January 2024.
She said January would be the best period to begin the exercise as all the ministries would have received their budgets for the 2024 fiscal year.
The Presidential aide said, “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.”
According to her, the annual scorecard would be reviewed during periodic retreats where performances would be assessed against key performance indicators.
