The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director General, Dr Bashir Jamoh, has said that the reforms introduced by his agency has led to the successful removal of Nigeria’s maritime sector from danger zones.
The certification, according to him, was issued by the International Maritime Bureau, courtesy of the progress recorded by the agency in securing it over the years.
The DG made this known recently when he received the Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, during an advocacy visit to the Commission.
According to the NIMASA DG, “Today Nigeria is no longer in the danger list, we have been removed by the International Maritime Bureau. We are no longer one of the most dangerous nations to trade with, in terms of maritime security.
“By December 2020, the result of maritime insecurity led to the experience of one ship attack per day. At that time, we had recorded six attacks in a week. By the second quarter, we hit a 27 year record of reduction of attacks on our maritime domain. And by December 2021, we have beaten 27-30 years of experience with a drastic reduction of up to 75 percent in terms of attack. I am happy to announce that as of last month (June 2022), we have clocked two months record without single attack.
“The the joint industry working group came in, where the international community, international organisations, international cargo owners like Bimco and the rest all joined to sit down and discuss problems and solutions on how to tackle the issue of maritime insecurity.
“From there, we now graduated to introduce the Shelve of Guinea, all these are reforms that helped us to achieve the success we have recorded,” Dr Jamoh explained.
He added that, over the years, the agency has embraced a number of reforms and the element of sustainable management system under the government requirement. Among the concerns of the agency is in order to ensure that their competitiveness and sustainability as to promote maritime mandate given to them.
“In doing so, over the last 2-3 years, we introduced a number of reforms, which includes Compendium of Internal Policies, advancements of our own conditions of service (which was just approved about 2-3 months ago) even though there are some amendments that triggered implementation of our own conditions of service, which we are applying back to the Head of Service, to ratify some issues.
“We introduced innovations in infrastructure for communication with the agency. The DG may wish to go to the first floor, where we build the Customer Experience Centre. It is a center that interfaces between the agency operations and the stakeholders, and it operates in terms of computerisation of complaints and inquiries, as to how we can address them in order to give an up-to-date information on what we are doing. And where we have shortcomings, and we address it.
“The Customer Experience Center is under the supervision of SERVICOM, in order to have an effective service delivery in our own agency. Also, in terms of assets and environmental safety and protection capabilities, we introduced a number of tools in terms of infrastructure, I am sure he DG must be appraised on the deployment of the Deep Blue Project Assets. These are assets that are state of art, appreciated worldwide, as a result, number of countries have been able to complement what we have put in place.
“Just last week Monday, I was in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, to sign an agreement with Japaneses government, for the construction of additional balls for securities, worth about $2.78 million, donated by the Japanese government, in appreciation of what the Nigerian government and the agency put in place to ensure maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is been sustained.
“In similar vein, the Korean government donated a similar warship, which any moment from now, we may have to bring it to Nigeria, this also is as a result of the appreciation of the effort the Nigerian government and NIMASA put in place to the project,” he added.
Responding, the BPSR DG hailed the agency for the reforms, while applauding them for being frequently responsive to its enquiries and guidance.
While speaking on the efforts being made to reform the Nigerian Public service in the last 20 years, the DG BPSR said the Bureau's ultimate vision was to ensure that by the year 2025, Nigeria ranks among the 20 best public services in the world.
To achieve that, Arabi said the BPRS developed a Self Assessment Tool SAT which was used to monitor and assess performance of the Ministries, Department and Agencies of Government, with a view to enhance Performance.
He revealed that the Public Service Reforms implemented by Nigeria such as the Treasury Single Account TSA and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System IPPIS, have elicited interest from foreigners who want to visit Nigeria and study its journey and experience with such reforms.
Aliyu Umar Aliyu
Principal Information Officer
(BPSR)
21st July, 2021.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Muhammad Bello Koko, has said that the various reforms programs introduced by the authority have reduced the waiting time of vessels at the Nigerian ports.
The MD also said the reforms have resulted in the overall reduction of Turn-Around-Time of vessels, reduced ports cost, increased port and cargo traffic as well as facilitated trade.
Koko was speaking at the August 2022 edition of Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) Lunch Time Reform Seminar, titled ‘The Contribution of the Nigeria Port Authority in Enhancing Economic Growth and Ease of doing Business in Nigeria’ and held in Abuja.
The NPA MD also said regulating ports body contributes on average, about 1.6 percent of Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product, being the major facilitator of trade whose services all other sectors depend on for import and export.
“In the first half of 2022, NPA has generated a revenue of over N172bn from its operations. The authority has in the same period remitted over over N78bn to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the federation,” Bello Koko added.
Some of the reforms he outlined include: Electronic Ship Entry Notice (ESEN), Electronic Manifest Download, provision of 24 hours ports operation, night illumination of the port environment and gate access control among others.
Earlier, the BPSR DG, Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, said maritime transportation plays a major role in the national and international trade and economic growth.
He however said enumerated some factors which he said port operators attributed as contributing to the high cost of doing business at the ports to include gridlock on the port access roads, delay in scanning and physical examination, duplicated charges and charges not tied to services, cargo dwell time/ lengthy port procedures, and block stacking of containers.
“Others factors were lack of holding bay and trailer parks; unethical conduct of shipping companies and terminal operators; infrastructure problem; customs procedure and associated delays. The Nigeria Ports Authority in implementing the executive order on ease of doing business is addressing these and other related challenges.
“To enhance economic growth and ease of doing business, the Nigeria Port Authority went through a reform program to promote efficiency through a Private-Public partnership which resulted in the concession of the corporation.
“On this note, some port terminals which were formerly managed and regulated by the Nigerian Port Authority were concessioned to private operations for a period of time,” Arabi explained.
The BPSR boss however commended NPA for the reforms, and said has been consistently making efforts to relieve the importers and ports operators with several incentives.
Aliyu Umar Aliyu
Principal Information Officer (BPSR)
31st August, 2022.
The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has asked for collaboration of an international non-governmental organisation, Deutsche Gesellschaft fϋr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, in training and building the capacity of Nigeria’s public servants.
The collaboration, according to BPSR DG, Dr Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, is important because GIZ is a service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, which he said makes the collaboration even more fruitful.
Arabi, who was speaking on Tuesday when he paid a courtesy call to the GIZ Country Director in Abuja, said the two bodies naturally share common operational base and mandates.
He said, “We are aware that GIZ, as a high-flying international organization, is armed with over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas including economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security, and we hope to partner with your organization towards maximizing the opportunities that our collaboration and partnership will avail our both parties.
“GIZ partners with a lot of stakeholders across the globe to support the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development, and we are willing to join forces with GIZ in furthering this cause.
“We believe that sustainable development is one thing that can have a rebounding effect when it is projected. So, our partnership with your organization in pushing for sustainable developments across the globe will definitely rebound in our favour.
“And as GIZ has as its core mandate, the eradication of poverty across the globe, and the mitigation of climate change, we can therefore say that our interests and values are in tandem since the Bureau also seeks to eradicate poverty from the lives of civil servants and government employees by training them on how to maximize the financial opportunities available to them.
“Another major way through which the Bureau strives to eradicate poverty from the lives of government employees is through conducting pre-retirement training for civil servants who are close to retiring from active service. The training involves exposing the soon-to-be-retired employees to the rudiments of fruitful post-retirement life. The beneficiaries of such trainings are taught how to plan for retirement so that they don’t have any regrets after retiring from active service.”
The DG also said the bureau is on a mission to facilitate the building of Nigeria’s Public Service into a highly-functional, professional, customer-focused and result-oriented institution, and it hopes to achieve this through collaborations and partnerships, which is one of the reasons of the visit.
“We know fully well that there’s no better way of getting things done than through partnerships, teamwork and collaborations, and we will not spare any chance in partnering with viable organizations such as yours,” the DG added.
Aliyu Umar Aliyu
Principal Information Officer (BPSR)
19th April, 2022.
The Federal Government has reitetated its commitment to partner with Indian government in the areas of improving and reforming its public service.
The Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, disclosed this in Tuesday, when he visited the Indian Embassy in Abuja.
He explained that realised India’s role as a leading nation in terms of policy development and implementation, Nigeria considered it worthwhile to initiate a partnership with her that will not only benefit both countries economically, but that will more importantly, strengthen their bilateral ties.
“As you are aware, BPSR is a government parastatal that is saddled with the very important responsibility of reforming the country’s public service sector through tangible policies and bureaucratic expertise.
“We are here today because we acknowledge that your country, India, can partner with our country, Nigeria, to actualize our mutual governmental and governance goals.
“We shall through the course of our deliberations, consider those areas where our both countries can collaborate and achieve common civil and public service goals.
“As a nation, Nigeria is very keen about reforming and upgrading its public service, and it is open to all collaborations, partnerships and relationships that can foster its chances of achieving this very significant goal. Nigeria looks forward to partnering with India towards building the capacity of its civil and public service.
“India, as we all know, has developed technological innovations that can enhance productivity in the civil service and the public sector. We consider this a laudable feat, and we cannot but join forces with a progressive nation towards expediting our own country’s growth process.
“Nigeria will benefit immensely from India in the areas of staff training, capacity building, exchange of programmes and policies amongst officers, application of computer technology in the conduct of tests and examinations for recruitments and promotions, and all-round managerial and administrative businesses.
“We are also aware that India has advanced an efficient technology that can monitor and keep record of data and vital information of a large number of persons, just like the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) that was first introduced by the Nigerian government to keep track of the details of staffers, and we are open to exploring all these opportunities that can foster the growth of our both countries,” Dasuki added.
The DG also said, the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, being a critical government parastatal, has been up in its game in meeting its core mandate, which is to initiate, coordinate, monitor and evaluate the implementation of reform programmes and policies in the civil service.
He hinted that India, being a high-flying reformist country, can help Nigeria in no small measure to attain the status of a reformist country as well as help the bureau achieve its core mandate of reforming the its public service.
Aliyu Umar Aliyu
Principal Information Officer (BPSR)
19th April, 2022.
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
Principal Information Officer
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.