Delegations of three foreign nations' governments have arrived the country, and presently understudying three agencies of the Nigerian public service.
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, made this known when he led top management staff of the Bureau on a familiarization visit to the Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, at Power House, in Abuja.
According to Arabi, the three agencies been studied by the foreign delegations are the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), the Security and Exchange Commission (NCC), and the Treasury Single Account (TSA) reform initiative.
He said several reform policies initiated by their BPSR have brought public financial management in Nigeria at par with other public financial management administrations in the world.
"BPSR, since its establishments, along with other sister agencies, have driven public financial management reforms in Nigeria.
We are the brain behind the introduction of the Bank Verification Number (BVN), Treasury Single Account (TSA), and quite a number of things around public financial management.
"We have succeeded in making the public service of Nigeria to be among those the international community, especially the World Bank and International Monetaru Fund (IMF) have acknowledged," he added.
The BPSR helmsman noted that their agency and other members of the steering committee on reforms also initiated power reforms which have succeeded in unbundling the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), facilitated an improvement in power supply, and also created an ecosystem around power generation, distribution and marketing.
In his address, Engr. Aliyu, disclosed that their Ministry, in recent years, has been doing a lot to sanitize and transform the power sector.
The Power Minister, while pledging his support and cooperation to the BPSR management, maintained that the Bureau's work will continue to guide their activities and programmes at the Ministry.
He further said that the work been carried out by BPSR is key to the entire governance structure of the nation, hence putting the reform agency in a strategic position.
The Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, BPSR, Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, has assured that their Bureau will explore all avenues of collaboration and synergy to work with the Nigeria Electricity Management Agency, NEMSA, to improve and take the country’s power sector to greater heights for the benefit of teeming citizens.
He gave the assurance in Abuja when he hosted Engr. Aliyu Tahir, Managing Director of NEMSA, and his management, on a working visit to BPSR office.
Arabi, disclosed that power sector regulators such as NEMSA, NELMCO, NERC, NBET and TCN have played significant roles in sustaining the Privatized Power Sector by providing comfort to Power Companies, thereby sustaining and boosting Investors’ confidence in the sector.
According to him, the decisions of these regulators whether on Licensing, subsidy, Power-purchase-Agreements, metering or procurement of operational equipment, have always been transparent and followed due process in line with international best practices.
“Consequently, the Nigeria Power sector is rated as the biggest investment destination and the largest consumer market in the continent,” he said.
Arabi, pledged that BPSR’s relationship with agencies such NEMSA which was created as a result of the Power Sector Reforms, “will remain cordial and mutually beneficial not only to our agencies, but also our cherished customers- the Nigerian Masses.”
Earlier, in his address, Engr. Tahir, assured the BPSR Director General and other management staff of NEMSA’s continued partnership and collaboration to ensure efficient service delivery, which will in turn bring about the actualization of NEMSA’s mandate, which is the provision of stable electricity networks and power system that delivers safe, reliable, efficient and improved power supply.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, on Friday in Abuja, flagged-off and inaugurated the jury for the '2021/2022 Federal Government Scorecard for Ranking Websites of Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs'.
The ranking, is an exercise yearly organized by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).
Mustapha, in his keynote address, observed that noticeable transformation in the functionalities of MDAs’ websites in addressing key challenges have been seen, since the introduction of the scorecard project in 2017.
According to him, so much progress has been recorded and there is a noticeable paradigm shift in MDAs’ websites from being a mere presentation of information to becoming platform for digital government information services and resources.
"And in a way, this has furthered the priority of the current administration to fight corruption, improve transparency and accountability through open government and most importantly, proffering new strategies, processes and innovations to continue essential business operations, while also redefining governance as the country continue to mitigate the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
The SGF, called on the Jury to ensure they work together as a team and carefully balance their professionalism with integrity, transparency and the Oath they sworn, as the entire ranking process demands, without undermining the public perception and credibility of the initiative.
He charged the Bureau as a coordinating agency for reforms in the country to ensure that it transmit data advancing from the exercise to relevant agency of government to conceptualise reform and help in the decision making process of governance.
In his opening address, Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, Director General of BPSR, disclosed that this year’s website ranking is key and paramount to the delivery of the government's agenda.
Arabi said: "It is worthy to state that the concern and burning desire shared over the state of government websites when the scorecard was initially conceived is beginning to achieve the positive impact envisioned.
"I note, with great satisfaction that the healthy competition going on among MDAs as a result of the ranking has produced a number of standardized government websites which provides the citizens with the opportunities to go online to register businesses, to obtain Tax Clearance Certificate, drivers’ licence, National Identity Number (NIN), Birth/Death Certificate, International Passport, vehicular particulars/plate number, as well as the process of consulting with Doctors and receiving medical attention, among others".
The Federal Government Scorecard for ranking website of federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) is an important index metric the National e-Government Masterplan has employed for determining the Nigeria e-Government Status, Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, has said.
Arabi, Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, BPSR, stated this at a 'Capacity Building on Web Development and Hosting Management'.
The training, organised by BPSR in Collaboration with Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), was held at the Main Auditorium of Federal Ministry of Finance, in Abuja.
Arabi, said their Bureau has made tremendous stride towards improving the standard of websites of Nigerian Government through the instrumentality of the Scorecard, with majority of the MDAs attaining global level in the quality of goods and services rendered to the public.
He added that the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have pressed the fast-forward button on the global shift to e-government.
"By extension, the pandemic has pushed the e-government transition forward at great speed, shifted many workers to a work-from-home and made us understand who the essential workers are.
"Institutional websites, which provides the digital space to keep government business up and running in the face of the pandemic must be kept at optimal standard to ease intention and readiness to adapt the new normal as well as to drive investors’ and citizens’ confidence in terms of ease of doing business, Open Data and Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
Read more: MDAs' Web Ranking, Vital Index for Determining e-Government Status--BPSR
FG inaugurates committee for ranking of MDAs on access to information
Websites
By Bridget Ikyado
Abuja, Oct. 29, 2021 (NAN) The Federal Government on Friday in Abuja inaugurated a committee to assess the websites of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the area of information dissemination on government activities.
The committe was inaugurated by the Director General, Bureau of Public Reforms, Mr Dasuki Arabi.
He said that the jury for the 2021/2022 Federal Government ranking of MDAs websites would determine whether information disseminated satisfied citizens’ curiosity and yearnings on government activities.
According to him, the MDAs websites, hosted by Galaxy Backbone and NITDA, were meant to eliminate fake news and minimize fraudulent internet activities in government offices.
Arabi said the federal government was passionate about informing and engaging citizens in governance process to enhance national unity and development.
This, he added, necessitated the centralised websites to ensure accurate and use of new media to enforce freedom of information and create one-stop shop towards inclusive governance process and better delivery of public services.
Read more: FG inaugurates committee for ranking of MDAs on access to information
Read more: Why Govt, Universities Must Work Together to Drive Reforms--BPSR
The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) was established on 4th February, 2004 as an independent and self-accounting body.
Our Vision is to drive change that will position Nigeria’s Public Service as an institution of excellence.