The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Muhammad Bello-Koko has extolled the initiatives of Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) in reforming Nigeria’s public service.
He also asked the bureau to help his agency restore new reforms that will overhaul operations at Nigerian ports.

He made the call recently when he received the BPSR DG, Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi during a courtesy call at NPA headquarters.

Koko said, “All the BPSR initiatives and reforms are commendable. Most recently, there has been increased visibility of the bureau by brining out new initiatives that engages critical stakeholders.

“For us at NPA, there have been reforms almost on daily basis in functions of the authority.

“NPA is ready for reforms, will collaborate and engage and bring suggestions, we are also interested in any study conducted on how to improve our services

“We pride ourselves as one of those government agencies that is run almost like a private sector agency in terms of performance, delivery of service, engagement with stakeholders and clients,” the NPA MD added.

Bello-Koko also said the NPA’s collaboration with BPSR help tackle redundant duplication of government agencies’ responsibilities, such as where we have 16 agencies work on one imported container at ports.

He explained that NPA welcomes implementable reforms that could be measured over time.

Earlier speaking, BPSR DG, Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, briefed the NPA boss about the different interventions his bureau is embarking on to reform the country's public service.

The DG said since its establishment in 2004, BPSR has been working independently in ensuring public accountability in government ministries, departments and agencies.

Dasuki said, “The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) was established on 4th February, 2004 as an independent and self-accounting body charged with the mandate of initiating, coordinating and ensuring the full implementation of Government reform policies and Programmes.

“The establishment of the bureau was based on the realisation that for optimal service delivery to the citizens by these institutions, there is the need for a periodic review of the performances of these agencies and the need for adjustments, where necessary for efficiency and Optimal productivity.

“The Bureau, in furtherance of her mandate, has developed the National strategy for Public Service Reform (NSPSR) as a template and guide for the implementation of the reform programmes by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies,” the DG added.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha has received the draft report of the Sub-Committee on the Implementation of Government's White Paper on Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies and Commission.

The report was submitted to the SGF in Abuja by the Committee's Chairman, Alh. Bukar Goni Aji, a former Head of Service of the Federation.

Another Sub-Committee on Review of New Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions Created After the Submission of the White Paper on Restructuring of Government Agencies, also handed over its draft report to the SGF, on Tuesday.

The Committee was headed by Ama Pepple, another former Head of Service of the Federation. The Chairmen and other members of the two Sub-Committees were inaugurated by the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, last November.

Before handing over their report to Mustapha, Pepple disclosed that their Committee met 13 before concluding their assignment.

According to her, the recommendations of their Committee are guided by the terms of reference they were given during inauguration, and which focused on reducing cost of governance, improving cost efficiency, eliminating duplications or overlapping functions among government agencies, among other terms.

She said a major consideration of their assignment was the imperative to indulge the federal government to address the drivers of high cost of governance.

She said: "It is desirable that the federal government will conclude the reviewed report in good time for the implementation to commence in line with the development timeline for the overall benefit of the country."

On his part, Goni Aji, who noted that their Committee had four terms of reference to guide its job, said their final draft report was produced in two volumes.

He said while working on their terms of reference, members of their Committee took an appraisal of the logic and justification of the recommendations contained in the Oronsanye Report and the draft White Paper, with their potentials to reduce cost of governance.

The SGF, in his remark, noted that the highlight of the reports presented by the two Sub-Committee Chairmen "gives him comfort that they have a workable document with which to proceed, and reduce the cost of governance in public administration."

"I want to assure you that all outstanding actions to finalize the issues of restructuring and rationalization of federal agencies, parastatals and commissions will be addressed in the shortest possible time," he said.

Signed:
Aliyu Umar Aliyu

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China and other stakeholders are putting modalities in place to achieve sustainable peace, security and development in Nigeria, in the post Covid-19 era.

Speaking at an International Symposium themed, "Africa-China All-Round Cooperation Under the Multilateral Framework: Achieving Sustainable Peace, Security and Development in Post Covid-19," Director General of IPCR, Dr. Bakut Bakut said the symposium is to reflect on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on diverse facets of human endeavours.

Dr. Bakut, at the symposium organized by the IPCR, noted that the pandemic most impacted tourism, trade, commerce and investment, education, people-to-people interactions, and rendered millions of global population poor and destitute.

He further noted that the pandemic has not only affected developing economies, but has increased government expenditure.

Bakut recalled how President Muhammadu Buhari had called for the deployment of multilateralism in combating not only the global recovery in post-COVID 19 era, but other threats to international peace, security and development, such as terrorism, poverty, diseases, inequalities, corruption, and so on.

The Director General of IPCR said: "I agree totally with our leaders that the way out of the raising threats of global peace, security and development as a fallout of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is to search of avenues for harnessing our collective resources, strengths, capacities and innovative skills.

"This International Symposium seeks to highlight the milestones recorded under the Africa-China all-round cooperation in trade and investment, healthcare delivery, defense and security, infrastructural development, strategic interest, peace and human security. It is expected to foster deeper collaboration under the multilateral framework for the promotion of peace, security, and development at community, national, and global levels."

In his remarks, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun, noted that the world is facing challenges like Covid 19, cyber security, climate change, moral values, generational gap, gender equality, among others.

He called for collaboration between Nigeria and China to achieve development and eradicate extreme poverty in the country.

Other areas of collaboration, according to him, is the areas of military, infrastructural development, ICT, investment among others.

In his goodwill message at the event, Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), explained that their Bureau had over the years done a lot to strengthen peace and security in our country.

"It has been universally agreed that sustainable peace and security are indispensable ingredients for the growth and development of any society. Therefore, to realise our dream of becoming one of the 20 strongest economies in the world, Nigeria presently desires sustained peace and security more than any other phenomenon.

"This can be achieved by collaboration with diverse stakeholders and partners to advocate and sensitize parties in violent conflict across the country, on the need to observe a ceasefire and adopt a non-violent approach to the resolution of conflict," Arabi said.

Signed:
Aliyu Umar Aliyu,
Principal Information Officer,
BPSR

The Director General Bureau of public service reforms (BPSR) Mr. D.I Arabi has restated the commitment of the agency to support the Nigeria Tourism Development Cooperation (NTDC) to enhance it's operations with view to strengthen the sector.

The Director General made the remark during his courtesy visit to NTDC in Abuja recently.
According to Arabi, BPSR was ready to deploy it's Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) programme on NTDC with the view to identifying areas of weakness and challenges facing NTDC, regardless of the successes being recorded.

This, he said would further strengthen the sector and boost the economic diversification policies of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He, therefore,.called on management staff to flank their support to DG, whom he said had remained committed in actualizing the visions and missions of the NTDC.

In his remarks, the Director General Nigeria Tourism Development Cooperation NTDC Mr. Folorunsho Cooker commended BPSR for the visit and requested for more collaborations and partnership to enable NTDC realise its mandate.

He noted that the tourism sector has the potentials to turn around the economy of the country for the better, stressing that the sector has huge potential in view of its capacity to create positive infact to the Nation Gross Domestic Product (GDP), thereby reducing unemployment among teeming population.

He therefore lamented that, insecurity and lack of estern laws hindered the activities of Nigeria Tourism Development Cooperation (NTDC) among others.

"We're faced with numerious challenge that make it almost impossible to attract both foreign and local tourist, which includes lack of estern laws, security challenge, infrastructure deficit among others".

Zaharadeen Maigari

Towards enriching and consolidating reform efforts of the Federal Government and by extension States Government, the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) in collaboration with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organises a 1-day workshop on Distributed Ledger Technologies otherwise known as Blockchain Ecosystems. The workshop is a preconference activity towards a main conference with a theme Decentralisation and Adoption Method as Growth Plan for the Telecoms Sector- Development of Bold Blockchain Strategy in Nigeria.

The Conference, which among others is aimed at addressing the philosophy behind Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) will be preceded by a workshop designed to further articulate the main thematic area covering a technical overview, Blockchain, consensus algorithms, smart contract and centralized applications (dApp). In addition, it will provide participants with insight into DLT ecosystems application and use cases including DLT Application to Crypto-currencies and their tools as well as issues around DLT policy, legislation, regulation and security.

The workshop was held on Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at Meeting Room, Nigerian Communications Commission, in Ikoyi, Lagos. The second leg of the workshop is bid to hold on the 20th April, 2022, while the main conference is scheduled for 21st April, 2022 both events will be hosted in Abuja.

In his paper, the Director-General presented Blockchain technology as a structure that stores transactional records, also known as the block, of the public in several databases, known as the “chain,” in a network connected through peer-to-peer nodes. Typically, this storage is referred to as a ‘digital ledger.’

He stated that every transaction in this ledger is authorized by the digital signature of the owner, which authenticates the transaction and safeguards it from tampering. Hence, the information the digital ledger contains is highly secure.

Continuing, he added that the digital ledger is like a Google spreadsheet shared among numerous computers in a network, in which, the transactional records are stored based on actual purchases. The fascinating angle is that anybody can see the data, but they can’t corrupt it.

The Director-General mentioned that the public service require emerging technology like the Blockchain to reform the public service and deliver 24th century service to the citizens in the areas such as in: electoral matters (voting system), Public Procurement (contract management and original equipment manufacturer), national identity management, inter-MDAs processes (reference the Executive Order on ease of doing business and other EOs), Land and property management (Land title and others), Personnel Records, Pension matters. Etc.

He recommended that effort should be made for Public and Private sectors partnership to fuse plans and strategy in the deployment of Blockchain technology.
Participants at the event include personnels from Military, Banking sector, organised labour, IT professionals and academia.