Excellence, Not Mediocrity, Must Drive Public Service – Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima has implored state governments, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the federal government, the organised private sector and other stakeholders to do more in advancing the business environment in Nigeria.

He acknowledged the successes recorded this year, describing them “as the triumph of collaboration over solos,” even as he said when the 36 states of the federation, MDAs, development partners and other critical sectors commit to working together across the board, it becomes a big win for Nigeria.

In a statement issued yesterday, his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, said the VP gave the charge on Tuesday night in Abuja during the PEBEC Gala and Awards Night organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to celebrate exceptional public service delivery, reform excellence and collaborative efforts toward improving Nigeria’s business environment.

He said, “The end of this night does not signal the end of your pursuit of excellence because excellence is a culture, not an event. It lives only where it is nurtured. And so, in the new year, let us do even more to advance the reform agenda for Nigeria’s business environment.

“Let us build a nation where efficiency is normal, where transparency is routine and where excellence is the governing creed of public service.”

The vice president underscored the importance of working as a team, noting that while every organisation reflects the kind of people working within, the people cannot “achieve excellence in a vacuum.”

According to Shettima, excellence is cultivated – “the result of choices, of discipline, of a refusal to settle for the bare minimum,” adding that it is not something that is inherited.

He observed that it is for this reason that the Gala and Awards Night was organised “to honour the belief that public service can and must be synonymous with excellence.”

Reminding stakeholders that the ball is in their court to make a difference, the VP said, “His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has laid the critical foundation for the reforms required to reset our economy, and the success of this depends on the awardees we celebrate tonight.

“Your dedication and excellence embody the spirit of this administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda. You represent the very best of our public sector, and your work is the foundation upon which our nation’s prosperity is built.”

Shettima described the Gala and Awards Night as “a celebration of public servants across Nigeria who have refused to accept mediocrity as our national ceiling,” by working hard to actualize the ongoing reforms undertaken by the Tinubu administration.

“The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, has spent the last couple of years championing reforms that speak to the soul of our economic aspirations—reforms that make it easier to do business, that restore investor confidence, that ensure our institutions work at the speed of national ambition,” he said.

Earlier, the deputy chief of staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, said under the leadership of Shettima, PEBEC has continued to deliver reforms that is incrementally impacting businesses in different sectors across the country.

He, however, reminded stakeholders that the task of transforming Nigeria’s business environment is far from over, as every improvement celebrated at the 2025 awards will be the foundation upon which more lasting reform initiatives will be built.

On her part, the director-general of PEBEC, Princess Zahrah Audu, outlined some of the achievements recorded by the agency in the past year through deliberate and result-oriented collaboration to transform operations across MDAs, noting that reform is embedded and remains a critical component of PEBEC’s service delivery.

She added that the scope of PEBEC’s achievements under the current dispensation reflects the depth of partnership established and nurtured by management with critical stakeholders across the country over the past months.