The Director-General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Mr. Asishana Okauru, has commended the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, and his team for the numerous achievements the Bureau has recorded in her reforms initiative.

Okauru, asserted that some of the reforms at the federal level are already been replicated, just as some are presently on-going in some states, noting that NGF stands to benefit tremendously from the partnership with BPSR.

The NGF Director-General, who spoke when a delegation of the BPSR management paid a courtesy visit to the Forum’s office in Abuja, promised to work with the Bureau. He requested that the BPSR management team oblige them with relevant publications to enable them enrich the NGF library.

Mr. Okauru, maintained that until pertinent issues surrounding reforms are looked into, there was no way significant reforms could be achieved in the public service.

He identified size of workers, structure of civil service, administrative capacity, and ghost workers syndrome, among others, as lingering issues affecting public service, most especially in states.

He expressed willingness to work with the Bureau and promised to communicate the outcome of their meeting to the governors for necessary action.

In a power-point presentation depicting the overview, mandate and activities carried out by his organisation, Mr. Arabi, explained that BPSR has been directed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to ensure that all federal parastatals undergo the deployment of Self Assessment Tool (SAT) being conducted by the Bureau.

“We have conducted studies on the National Agricultural Seed Council in order to turn around the fortunes of our country’s agricultural sector. Our Bureau is also working with NICOMSAT towards preparing the agency for privatization. Over the years, we have used the ‘Lunch Time Seminar Series’ as an avenue to disseminate government programmes to the people, as well as elicit their buy-in to government policies/programmes,” he disclosed.

Arabi, informed the NGF Director-General, that the Bureau has developed a scorecard template, in order to provide a platform for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to showcase their activities on their various websites, in line with best global practices.

The Bureau’s helmsman, further stated that BPSR was the first government agency to develop the electronic portal of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), pointing out that the purpose of their visit was to leverage on the opportunities of NGF, as a coordinating platform for states, to showcase the activities of the Bureau and its reform programmes.

He added that BPSR is working within the reform pillars and also with key agencies such as the National Assembly(NASS, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and other relevant bodies, in pursuant to achieving her objectives and reforms initiatives.

At the occasion, Mr. Arabi, presented some relevant publications of the Bureau to the NGF Director-General, before leading his delegation to take a group photograph with the NGF DG and his staff.