Desired reforms achievable via enhanced service delivery, says perm sec

By Olugbenga Salami

For Nigeria to achieve the desired reform agenda, it has to improve its governance processes through initiatives that focus on enhancing public service efficiency and delivery, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo has affirmed.

Sani-Gwarzo, who spoke during the sensitization workshop on service delivery initiatives for officers on salary Grade Level 10-14 at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, OSGF in Abuja, therefore, urged the staff of the ministry to get acquainted with the philosophy and principles of service delivery and public service reform initiatives so that the mandate of the present administration could be efficiently implemented.

“Nigeria has been playing and will continue to play important roles in international fora and as such will have to seek to self improve its governance processes through initiatives that focus on enhancing public service efficiency that will significantly contribute and propel the country towards achieving the desired reform agenda,” he stressed.

According to a statement signed by the Deputy Director of Press in the ministry, Bolaji Kazeem, the permanent secretary said adoption of the Service Compact with all Nigerians signals a realization that the public service could do better and needs to do better to serve the public adequately.

Sani-Gwarzo recalled that the leadership of all ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs are into Service Compact with all Nigerians, “hence, all civil servants are expected to be consciously and deliberately committed to rendering prompt and efficient services to the citizenry.”

“This can only be possible if all eschew corruption and inefficiency. Stakeholders should work harder to bring the vision of the ministry to fruition, through upholding positive values, follow-up processes, ensuring absolute discipline, and giving recognition to competency, transparency, and accountability in the discharge of staff duties, so that citizens are not shortchanged in their expectations of the standard of service provided by government institutions,” he added.

The permanent secretary reiterated the management’s commitment to employ the SERVICOM platform in making things work in the ministry so that stakeholders will always enjoy doing business with the ministry.

He said that the new initiative was aimed at breaking away from the old model to a new paradigm of productive, result-driven, world-class civil service for accelerated national development.

Earlier, the Director of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement, Mr. Mshelbwala Ibrahim Musa explained that the concept of SERVICOM intends to drive reform change, innovation, and improvement efforts within the ministry in compliance with the framework set by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, OHCSF and Bureau of Public Service Reforms, BPSR.

In her presentation, the Head of Operations, SERVICOM, Mrs. Ngozi Akinbodewa said the objective of “Service COMPACT with All Nigerians” is to institutionalize a culture of continuous performance improvement and citizen-centred/customer focus in MDAs as well as promote transparency and accountability.

“It allows for an open and transparent approach that all citizens can understand and can work with, it covers key information about organization service delivery approach and the relationship the customer will have with the MDAs,” she said.