The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has been rated high at the presentation of report and award on the deployment of Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).

The event held on February 1, 2023, at the NCDMB headquarters, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital as part of the bureau’s tradition of ensuring transparency and accountability in government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Speaking during the presentation of the report and the award, the BPSR DG, Dasuki I. Arabi, said the gathering was also to showcase to Nigerians and the international communities as well as contemporaries the unsung qualities and world class standards the exercise revealed about the organisation.

The DG said NCDMB is the first and only agency under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which has enthusiastically submitted itself to undergo the assessment since the BPSR received the marching order in November, 2019 to deploy the tool.

“This is an outstanding pace NCDMB has set and our humble persuasion is for others in the Sector to emulate same and key-into the initiative,” the DG explained.

He also said, “The BPSR’s SAT in 2016 won the CAFRAD African Public Service Excellence Award in Morocco for Nigeria, and was also nominated for the United Nation Public Service Award in 2022.

“Hence, the privilege of having a tool of this nature within the Service for agencies and parastatals to continuously assess themselves against local and international good practice provides the encouragement for continuous improvement and assurances of effective, efficient and equitable service delivery.

“The process of diagnosing the health status of NCDMB commenced in October, 2021 with kind permission of the Executive Secretary to administer the tool to cross section of various categories of NCDMB staff, who were encouraged to be very objective in responding to the statements of good practice while they rate the organisation.

“The findings from the deployment have further reinforced our testament that NCDMB maintains high quality standard in systems and processes and demonstrate uniqueness in today’s fast paced, fast changing and increasingly competitive world.

“In the same light, we desire that the Award accompanying the Report would not only serve a memory of good feat but should continue to stimulate the insatiable desire to be the best in promoting the development and utilisation of in-country capacities for the industrialisation of Nigeria through the effective implementation of the Nigerian Content Act,” Arabi added.

On the uniqueness of the Self-Assessment Tool, the DG said it is fundamentally home grown, hundred percent local content driven and proudly developed in Nigeria, to carefully take into cognisance the peculiarities of the country’s challenges and issues.

Some of the general recommendations of the BPSR report include developing formal code of conduct defining standards of behaviour to which individual Governing Board members of NCDMB subscribe and adhere, fast tracking efforts to open Reforms coordination and service improvement Desk in all its Centres across the country and putting in place mechanism to identify and measure areas of financial risk and prepares contingency plans to mitigate risk associated with changes in Organisational income and funding streams.

The report also recommended NCDMB to procure staff and encourage them to sign an affidavit regarding their commitment not to engage in practices involving a conflict of interests, continue to comply with all the Federal Government financial and accounting policies and ensure frequents training of its staff, among others.

Aliyu Umar Aliyu

ACIO(BPSR)

6th February, 2023

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has scored 92.25 per cent at the recent self assessment tool (SAT) deployed by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) to monitor its performance.

The tool was deployed in May 2022, with the overall objective of identifying the NPA’s strengths and weaknesses as a first step towards improvement and optimal performance.

Presenting the report of the assessment at NPA headquarters virtually, BPSR Director-General, Dasuki I. Arabi, said the tool, which has to its credit a United Nation Award is among the best innovation emanating from the bureau to rank, reposition and reengineer organizational performance for delivery the gains of good governance.

According to him, “At the end of the independent self-assessment, the validated assessment and in-depth
analysis of processes and practices of the agency, the findings and outcome adjudged NPA as a Level 5 ‘Platinum Level ‘organization i.e. ‘Exceptional Performance with performance level of 91.25%.

“This means that NPA performance far exceeded expectations due to exceptionally high quality of work in all essential areas of responsibility, resulting in an overall quality of work that is superior, exceptional or unique.

“It is worthy of note that the whole process of the assessment was free from both internal and external influence. While we commend critical mass of staff of the NPA for commitment and cooperation they displayed throughout the exercise, it is imperative to also state that there
were certain members who were lackadaisical in their attitude to the very important national exercise of the Federal Government,” Arabi explained.

He then advised NPA to give wholesome attention to the recommendations as an important organ among the generating agencies of the Federal Government.

The DG also said when the Bureau received a marching order in November, 2019 to deploy the tool in all Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), there were three key
objectives in focus, namely: determine the current strengths and weaknesses of an Organization through an assessment of processes and practices; identify priority areas for action and plan to address gaps from the assessment; showcase and celebrate good practice.

“We must commend the patience and focus with which NPA worked with the
BPSR SAT team to see all the objectives successfully realized. This is an important reform exercise which noticeably would boost NPA’s contribution to government effort to
reposition and enhance the national economy,” the BPSR DG added.

Some of the findings of the assessment include; the Board understands its roles and responsibilities to NPA and performs them in accordance with extant provisions and guidelines, the board ensures the development and implementation of clear policies to guide operational leadership and responsiveness of NPA to stakeholders needs, absence of conflict or duplication of roles between the function of NPA and the supervisory Ministry among others.

Responding, the NPA Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said they were very pleased with the report and have the mandate of improving on the gaps identified in it.

Koko, who was represented by the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the authority, Ms Adenrele Adesina, also commended the BPSR for what he described as fair and objective assessment.

“This kind of exercise is very useful because it focuses everybody's mind. We will take this report, as it will help us to design processes and priorities for the coming year.

“I firmly believes that there is much that can be achieved in public service. NPA is a mini Nigeria, so it's a perfect institution to demonstrate what is possible within Public service. We look forward to working with you in the next circle of the exercise,” Ms Adesina added.

Aliyu Umar
Ag. Head, Strategic Communication (BPSR)
15th December, 2022.

Nigeria records remarkable improvement in open governance as BPSR receives report on transparency, integrity in MDAs

The Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch (CeFTIW) has said that its study has shown remarkable improvement in the performance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the core areas of open governance and transparency in Nigeria.

The Chairman, CeFTIW Board of Trustees, Amb. Angela Nworgu, confirmed this in Abuja, while presenting Transparency and Integrity Index, Public Service Diaries and Probes Monitor Portals, jointly conducted with the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).

She said the ultimate goal of the event was in furtherance of the commitment of the Federal Government and the center’s efforts at promoting transparency and accountability in the nation’s public service, and good governance in general.

The BoT Chairman explained that the initiative was developed to monitor public sector expenditure and provide same to the public. It also monitors issues relating to the integrity of public officers as well as public institutions’ responsiveness to public scrutiny.

Amb. Nworgu said, “Today, we are gathered to present three of our other interventions aimed at promoting transparency in the public sector.

“Firstly, the Transparency and Integrity Index (TII) is one of the Center’s flagship projects supported by the MacArthur Foundation. It was borne out of the need to strengthen existing preventive mechanisms in combating corruption; especially given the concern that huge resources are deployed every year to prosecute corruption without corresponding decrease in incidents.

“Secondly, today’s program will see the presentation of the Public Service Diaries platform developed in partnership with the BPSR. The PSD project leverages technology to create a platform for knowledge sharing between retired public servants and existing public officers.

“Also today, we are physically presenting our Probes Monitor Portal. The PMP was developed in view of the Center’s concerns, first and foremost, about the abuse of constitutional processes in which probe panels are constituted and either abandoned halfway or their recommendations are not implemented, a situation which continuously weakens our democratic processes. The portal hosts information on grand corruption-related probes that were made public between 1999 and 2022; to draw attention of all concerned stakeholders to the litany of abandoned probes,” she added.

She then urged citizens to take advantage of the portal and data provided thereon to demand for transparency and accountability from their elected leaders and the public sector in general.

Earlier speaking, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said the CFTiw initiative by to conduct a Transparency and Integrity Index Assessment for MDAs and other relevant government agencies, is commendable and a welcomed development towards entrenching accountability and good governance.

He said the NGO deployed the use of some parameters to ensure that the set objectives of the project are achievable.

Mustapha said, “Particularly, the six parameters employed by CFTiw namely Website Integrity, Fiscal Transparency, Open Procurement, Anti- Corruption, Citizens Engagement and Human Resources, to benchmark the 2022 assessment of MDAs are remarkable as they are critical indices to determining good governance in the society.

“It is also envisaged that the development of the Probe Monitor Portal and the Public Service diary would become a repository knowledge that would facilitate referrals for judicial prosecution, as well as provide institutional memory within Public Institutions that could deepen principles of integrity.

“Undoubtedly, the quest for Citizens’ greater responsiveness, better use of public resources and development has heightened the need for transparency of public revenues.

“The thrust of government is to ensure that through its fiscal instruments and policies, a verile and sustainable economy is attained. Government alone cannot achieve this feat, this why initiatives and support from non- State actors as exemplified by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch(CFTiW) is most welcomed,” the SGF added.

Similarly, the BPSR DG, Dasuki I. Arabi, described the assessment as another milestone that encourages peer review mechanism aimed at stimulating competitiveness for better performances and as well, ensure the compliance to critical indices required for national development by MDAs.

“Accordingly, the unveiling of the Probe Monitor Portal and the Public Service Diary Application is a laudable step towards creating reservoir of knowledge for judicial processes, as well as strengthening track records of Public Servants towards mentorship and promoting core ethical values within Public Institutions.

“The clamour for a transparent and accountable government ever than before became a burning issue to the people, leading to the emergence of the wave of activism into public funds and accountability. Transparency and accountability are critical for ensuring that resource is well managed for the benefit of all.

The DG highlighted some of the credible gains made by his bureau in initiating reforms, with the introduction of the reforms in Public Financial Management, where fiscal instruments have successfully blocked leakages and brought about probity in the Public Financial System in Nigeria.

Aliyu Umar

Head, Strategic Communications (BPSR)

THE Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has emerged winner of the 2022 National Freedom of Information (FoI) compliance ranking.

The rating was carried out at an event held in Abuja today organised by a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs), including The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (The ICIR), Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), and BudgiT.

Other members of the coalition include Basic Rights Watch (BRW), Right to Know (R2K) and Media Rights Agenda (MRA).

Ranked second and third were the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the Debt Management Organisation, respectively, while the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) came fourth and fifth.

The ranking is organised annually, with this year’s event themed, ‘Artificial Intelligence, e-Governance and Access to Information.’

The BPSR also emerged in first place in 2020, and the number of public institutions featured in the ranking has increased from 66 in 2013 to 250 in 2022.