BPSR has developed a guide on “How to Manage and Reform Government Agencies and Parastatals.” This document provides practical guidance to Chief Executives of agencies and parastatals on best practice in managing government establishments. It covers issues such as Managing Boards, Procurement, Human Resource Management, Financial Management, Service Delivery and Change Management.

Interestingly, the guide includes a web-based Self Assessment Tool with which agencies can assess their own performance and set out ways to improve. BPSR has already successfully piloted the tool in the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Nigeria Communications Commission. BPSR is briefing Chief Executives of Agencies and Parastatals about the tool at a retreat holding in Lagos on 16th March, 2016, with a view to wider roll out soon afterwards.

BPSR has entered the Agency Improvement Tool in this years Public Service Innovation Award for the 2016 Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) biennial conference holding later this year.

The Steering Committee on Reforms chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has led the development of a 10-year strategy for reforming Nigeria’s public service. The strategy is founded on 4 Pillars, each led by a named organisation. These are: Improving the Governance and Institutional Environment (led by Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation); Improving the Social-Economic Environment (led by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning; Improving Public Finance Management (led by the Ministry of Finance; and Improving Civil Service Administration (led by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation).

BPSR is leading the update of the strategy to ensure that it captures the aspirations of the current Administration. In this regard, it has organised interactive sessions with each Pillar leader to ensure that they are able to lead the review and update of the Strategy. The interactive sessions are taking place in the week commencing 21st March 2016.

Following the review of all the pillars, a revised and updated National Strategy for Public Service Reforms will be presented to the Steering Committee on Reforms for consideration and forwarding to the Federal Executive Council

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation has approved the reconstitution of the White Paper Implementation Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Agencies, Parastatals and Commissions. The members are Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Chairman), Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Ministers of Transport, Education, Finance, Health, Industry, Trade and Investment, Science and Technology, and Information and Culture, the Minister of State for Transport (Aviation), Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission and DG, BPSR (Secretary).

BPSR was part of the Committee on the Review of the Structure of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, inaugurated by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on 17th November, 2015. The Committee submitted its report in January, 2016, with a recommendation that BPSR should lead a team of organisational development experts from Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to deepen the work on restructuring all Ministries.

The deepening of the work already undertaken on the 7 Ministries affected by merger commenced on 15th March, 2016. These are the Ministries of Transport, Power, Works and Housing, Youth and Sports, Budget and National Planning, Interior, Environment, and Information and Culture.