From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Buhari administration has been productive and remarkable in the past two years, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha has said.
According to him, between May 29, 2019, to Aug 31, 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) held 52 meetings and granted 579 approvals comprising of 381 contracts, 110 policies and 88 briefs/notes.
He made this disclosure during the opening ceremony of the Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat on Monday in Abuja.
The SGF said, overall, the total number of contracts, policies and briefs/notes approved by the FEC between November 2015 and August 2021 stand at 1,403 comprising of 878 Contracts, 319 Policies and 206 Briefs/Notes.
‘From the above, the 878 Contracts approved by FEC have mostly targeted the provision of infrastructure, geared towards enabling faster economic growth and development. In the same vein, the analysis also shows that the government remained focused on its cardinal responsibility of responsively addressing the myriads of needs and challenges of its citizens through the 319 approved policies initiated during the period,’ he said.
Mustapha said that with the introduction of the Ministerial Mandates by the President, there is greater clarity of expectations of MDAs on deliverables of government priorities to achieve demonstrable results.
‘Today, there are embedded systems for performance management and improved accountability and transparency for the delivery of services to citizens,’ he stated.
‘The key focus of this Mid-Term ministerial retreat is to review the status of progress towards the delivery of the nine priority areas. According to him, the initiative is intended to harness the collective contributions towards generating practicable solutions that will guarantee the level of impact the government functionaries can be proud of by the end of their tenure. Mustapha stated further that the exercise was also aimed to deepen collaboration and enhance cohesion among cabinet members for efficient and effective service delivery.’
The SGF noted that the retreat provides an opportunity for government functionaries to collectively assess performance against the Ministerial Mandates.
He said the retreat was also meant to track the progress of their commitment to delivering the development aspirations captured in the 9 priority areas adopted at the 2019 Presidential Retreat.
The nine priority areas are: building a thriving and sustainable economy; enhance social inclusion and reduce poverty; enlarge agricultural output for food security and export; attain energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products and expand transport and other infrastructural development.
Others are expanding business growth, entrepreneurship and industrialisation; expand access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity of Nigerians; build a system to fight corruption, improve governance and create social cohesion; and improve security for all.