Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on policy coordination and former Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, yesterday, said all the ministers in the current administration were under the shared understanding to sign a performance bond with the president.
Bala-Usman, who disclosed this yesterday, when she appeared on a television programme in Abuja, said the bond would contain key performance indicators (KPIs) that would be reviewed quarterly.
She said the bond would also come with a consequence management framework for appointees, who fell short.
According to her, “The role of my office is to ensure that there is coordination across ministries, departments and agencies. We have effectively commenced our work.
“We have also looked to see that while there are policy deployments across MDAs, there is also the understanding of the respective deliverables expected of the MDAs of government.
“We are looking to commence an assessment of the respective ministers in January 2024. We are going to have quarterly assessments of performance, which will culminate in an annual score card.
“In addition to that, we are going to have a cabinet retreat in November with Mr. President. At the end, this would culminate in the performance bond that will be signed by each ministry.
“Every minister and the permanent secretary would sign a performance bond with the president, which would detail what they are expected to do within the one year 2024 budget cycle.
“And that performance bond is what we are going to use to track the performance of that minister. One of the things that we are keen to ensure, and Mr. President has clearly given us that directive is that performance is a very important thing.
“He has made a commitment to Nigerians and that commitment is what he is going to ensure is delivered by his respective appointees.
“And it is not only for the ministries, but also largely for the whole governance structure for all of us to know that we are hitting the ground running and we are ensuring that we deliver on our respective mandates.”
The special adviser said Nigerians would see a remarkable difference in governance with the way the president manages his team.
Her words: “You are going to see a huge difference in President Tinubu’s approach towards ensuring his appointees adhere to the key performance indicators that he is giving them.
“As we know him, he is somebody that is very strong in delivering on his promises to citizens and I believe we are all going to witness that in how he is able to ensure that ministers are delivering.
“And we can see within the short period we have had a very clear economic direction that he has given and he is very strong in ensuring that all hands are on deck and also every appointee is clear on delivering on their mandate.”
Bala-Usman, who added that security was top priority for Tinubu, argued that, “Security is a top priority of President Bola Tinubu, and he has ensured that all resources are prioritised for security deployment.
“We can see within our supplementary budget; within areas that the president has made pronouncements. He has prioritised our security and we can see a lot of key achievements have been done within the shortest period by the agencies in the security architecture of the country.”
