The present federal administration is in its last stages. By the end of this year, it would have less than six months to fully shape its legacy.
Much like administrations before his, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has had its fair share of challenges.
Expectedly, the opposition, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has sought to make gains from the pitfalls of the APC-led administration as is typical in opposition politics.
Nevertheless, for some watchers, it would seem like the clearest hint yet on how the Buhari-administration wants to be remembered was evident in the tone of the last ministerial retreat.
President Buhari created the Ministerial Performance Review Retreat system in 2019. It was first organised for ministers-designate, permanent secretaries and other top government functionaries.
Nine Priority Areas were adopted at the 2019 retreat. One year later, the first Year Ministerial Review Retreat was held between September 7 and 8, 2020.
Subsequently, a 2-day mid-term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat was organised to review the performance of the government and to re-strategise for the second half of Buhari’s second term in office between October 11 and 12 2021 at the State House Conference Centre.
Organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SSG), Boss Mustapha, the essence of the retreat is to take stock, self-evaluate and appraise the performance of the administration in order to measure successes or failures.
This year’s retreat was structured into three main areas: an overview of ministerial performance in the last three years; lessons and good practices from the Kenyan Presidential Delivery Unit; and focus on ways to accelerate the delivery of flagship projects and programmes of President Buhari in the days leading to the May 2023 handover date.
However, addressing participants at the recent edition of the retreat held at the State House on October 17, 2022, Buhari said the retreat would carry out objective self-assessment of its commitments to the contract signed with the Nigerian people at the inception of this administration in 2019.
“I am glad to note that we have sustained this yearly stock-taking innovative initiatives introduced in 2019 by holding three consecutive Performance Review Retreats in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. This has helped us to clearly identify what we have done, what needs to be done and how best to get it done,” he stated.
Buhari, who seemed delighted with his administration’s achievements nonetheless, charged all ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of agencies to remain focused in the discharge of their duties. He noted that any infraction will be viewed seriously.
For the SGF, Boss Mustapha, the retreats helped to ensure set goals are met. In the same manner, he said the mid-term retreat, among others, institutionalised the Performance Management System (PMS) as a way to promote the culture of accountability and transparency in the public service.
He said: “The purpose of this third year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat is to report on progress made in the implementation of ministerial mandates along the nine priority areas of the administration based on data from the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) Performance Management System.
“Other objectives are to analyse and discuss reasons for achievements or non-achievement of performance targets, identify and agree on strategies to improve performance, recognise accomplishment, and encourage ministers to deliver on the legacy projects of Mr. President as the administration winds down.”
Mustapha said the CDCU, which was set in motion as a catalyst for improved performance, has been driving the federal government delivery initiative with resounding success with its performance management system introduced in 2021.
“Sequel to the Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat last year, the CDCU developed Performance Improvement Suggestions (PIS) for all 28 Ministries as well as the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF). The PIS as a major value addition, recommends ways of improving performance, especially for Deliverables that were rated below 50 per cent. The PIS enables each ministry develop actionable plans to accelerate the implementation of deliverables towards the achievement of the 2023 targets.
“To address the issue of limited civil service capacity in driving the delivery process, CDCU, has continued to provide technical support for ministries to establish, inaugurate and train their delivery task teams, which are made up of staff of the departments and agencies under the supervision of such ministries, to ensure timely reporting on ministerial deliverables.
“This support aims at deepening the delivery capability of MDAs to complete key legacy policies, projects and programmes of government with a focus on the low-hanging fruits. As at September 2022, a total of 17 ministries, had set up and inaugurated their Delivery Task Teams while others are at advanced stages in preparation to doing so,” Mustapha said.
The keynote speaker was the immediate past president of Kenya, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta. He shared the Kenyan experience in the strive to deliver developmental promises.
He noted that he used the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) to achieve his administration’s objectives while acknowledging that nations in Africa share similar challenges in various aspects of nationhood.
He said those challenges are made worse by citizens’ little patience, compounded by inadequate resources and limited time frame.
He however argues that African leaders, faced with such challenges as insecurity, terror, pandemic and other such mitigating-unsolicited setbacks should first remain focused.
“The ability to be able to focus on what the critical issues are – we cannot deliver on everything, but we can be focused to be able to target our intervention to those areas that most affect our people, the greatest immediate impacts and also, that lays the foundation for a stronger nation, and prosperity tomorrow.
“The second, I believe, is the realisation of the challenges we face are not challenges that can be completed by any one single administration. So, therefore, ultimately, the issue of continuity and succession planning is also very critical.”
He said his Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) ensured the government delivered on key priority areas. He said it was instrumental to many successes recorded by his administration within its first five years of governance.
He urged Nigerians to stick to President Buhari’s developmental agenda by voting for a successor that will continue from wherever he stops.
Kenyatta said, “I heard very keenly, when the secretary to the federal cabinet was speaking, and there is one thing that I will encourage; it is that as this administration winds down, let us not suffer the traditional.
“It is like all African problem, that when one administration winds down the next one thinks whatever was done we can do better. And you start trying to imagine ways of re-inventing the wheel – the wheel can only be invented once. We need to begin to institutionalise these practices, if we ever hope to deliver on our promises.”
He argued that there is no single administration that has the capacity to resolve all the problems African countries face, so each administration should build on the foundation laid by the previous one.
“Therefore, institutionalising and learning lessons and not repeating mistakes is part of our journey to transform this continent, but if we become people, who adopt start-stop policies, as unfortunately many have done in the past, we will never fully achieve the socio-economic agenda that we set for ourselves,” he said.
Also alluding to the tremendious contributions of the peer-review mechanism and self-appraisal system implemented by his government, to objectively assess his government’s commitments to actualising the promises made to Nigerians, Buhari said, “I am glad to note that we have sustained this yearly stock-taking innovative initiatives introduced in 2019 by holding three consecutive performance review retreats in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. This has helped us to clearly identify what we have done, what needs to be done and how best to get it done.”
Buhari told the gathering that going by the assessment report and discussions at the retreat, it is evident that his government made appreciable progress through collective efforts in setting the nation on the path of sustainable development while improving the well-being of our people.
He, however, stressed that, “Notwithstanding these achievements, there are still unfinished businesses that we must speedily complete to ensure we finish well. We must, therefore, endeavour to close every gap in our implementation efforts to ensure the attainment of set targets by 2023.
“This retreat is not the end of our assessment process, as I have directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to continue with the quarterly review process and assessment for the third and fourth quarters of 2022 and the reports will form part of our transition documents.”
While nine priority areas had been identified as focal issues before the end of this administrtaion, Buhari emphatically directed all ministers and permanent secretaries to ensure that the performance reports of their ministries are submitted on a quarterly basis to the office of the SSG for review by the CDCU and the outcome of these reviews would be subject to his consideration.
Underscoring the importance of this review system to achieving government objectives and his readiness to bequeath it to successive administrations after his, Buhari stated that, “The Executive Order 012 on Improving Performance Management, Coordination and Implementation of Presidential Priorities, which I signed a few minutes ago, has institutionalised a culture of accountability, transparency in our pursuit of good governance.”
