Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman

By James Emejo

Minister of National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, has ordered all planning directors and staff to strive to deliver on the key performance indicators set for various departments and agencies under its supervision, warning that no excuse would be tolerated for failure.

Speaking at the weekend in Abuja while signing a performance contract with the Secretary to the Commission, Mr. Ntufam Ugbo, as well as Director-Generals of agencies under his supervision, the minister said the commission, having spearheaded the creation of the performance contract, must lead by example by setting the tone of achievements.

The Director Generals, who signed the contract with Usman, included Alhaji Kabir Usman of the Centre for Management and Development as well as Director-General, Social and Economic Research. Ms. Bolanle Onagoruwa of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is also to sign the contract later as she was unavailable at the signing ceremony

He said: “We have signed and we must deliver: We must all work together to achieve what we set up to achieve. There are no excuses.”

In turn, the secretary to the commission also signed the performance contract with all the directors and heads of department in the ministry.

President Goodluck Jonathan had on August 22 signed performance contract with ministers and asked that same be replicated between the ministers and their subordinates in a move aimed at making the public service more transparent and accountable to the people.

In his remarks, Ugbo assured the minister that the commission would work to help achieve the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) which Usman had signed with Jonathan.

He said: “We’ve committed ourselves to achieving all the promises you made to President Jonathan. We would not let you down because we are behind you.”