The Bureau of Public Service Reforms has taken stock of the impacts of the European Union Support to Federal Governance Reforms (EU-SUFEGOR) on Nigeria’s reform policies. Speaking at the Closure Event organized by EU-SUFEGOR on the 23rd May, the Director General, Bureau for Public Service Reforms, Mr. D.I Arabi expressed immense gratitude to the EU team for showing interest in Nigeria through the various interventions in diverse sectors of the country.
He reiterated that BPSR served as the programme implementation agency and has been able to initiate, coordinated and implemented a number of programmes with positive impacts on service delivery. This was carried out in the form of monitoring, coaching and capacity building.
Arabi highlighted some of the success story on the impact assessment of NSPSR- National Strategy for Public Service Reforms where BPSR conducted an annual perception PSR survey. He said he was delighted to announce a 70-80% implementation of the National Strategy for Public Service Reforms (NSPSR) with a target of putting Nigeria on the list of top 20 economies by 2020. This also includes the development of Key Performance Indices (KPIs) for NSPSR and BPSR.
He further listed the support for development of M & E strategy and its integration system using ICT and retraining; support for coordination of projects activities, change management, training on Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and National charts of Accounts and public financial management. Another was reviewing the constraints on performance in the MDAs and identifying the bottlenecks in four key service delivery areas: International passport, National identity numbers, Tax clearance and Driver’s license in four states.
The DG was particularly grateful for the provision of alternate internet broadband which has greatly aided research studies in the Bureau. This also extends to the supply of computers, printers, laptops to facilitate office operations.
MS. Nadia Cannata, Head of section- Economic Cooperation and Energy, EU stressed that the reform programmes have provided the platform for a huge interface with over 6,000 civil servants and the private sector engagement through the support of EU/BPSR partnership in hosting the monthly Lunch Time Reform seminar. According to her, the EU identified the need for capacity building as a major necessity in order to deliver reform drivers with the expertise needed and strengthen the institutions for better Public service delivery.
The ceremony had segments which was made up of panel of discussant who tried to review the activities and project goals of EU-SUFEGOR to participating agencies and public officers who have distinguished themselves as worthy ambassadors of reforms.
The DG, BPSR was honored with an award for outstanding performance and as a lead implementation institution positioned to drive reforms.
Others were representatives from the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, National Bureau of Statistics, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture
In his parting comments, Mr. Arabi specially recognized the efforts of DFID-PERL as key partner in the reform programmes of the Federal government and also used the medium to welcome intending partners.