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Fed Govt deploys apps to monitor ministers’ performance

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The stage is set for ministers to present their scorecards on the delivery of ministries on the eight priority areas of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination/Head of Central Coordination Delivery Unit (CDCU), Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman, dropped the hint in Abuja yesterday.

They (ministers) were told by the President that will undergo compulsory periodic (quarterly) assessment to rate their performances in line with the identified priority areas.

The Tinubu’s administration also designed and released a Citizens’ Delivery Tracker App to monitor the performance of ministers and their portfolios.

Nigerians can use device to give feedback to the government on policies, programmes and projects.

The implementation of constituency projects allocated to senators and House of Representatives members are to be assessed too.

Ms. Bala-Usman, who spoke at the Go-Live Event of the Citizens’ Delivery Tracker, said restated Tinubu’s commitment to an open and transparent government in the larger interest of the nation.

She said the President has mandated all ministries to hold quarterly sectorial engagement sessions with citizens.

Unfolding Tinubu’s new strategy called: “Citizen-centric approach to governance,” the special adviser said since the ministers signed performance bonds, they will be evaluated on the eight priorities of the President.

The areas are:

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•      Reforming the economy to deliver sustained and inclusive growth

•      Strengthening national security for peace and prosperity

•      Boosting agriculture to achieve food security

•      Unlocking energy and natural resources for sustainable development

The areas are:

•      Reforming the economy to deliver sustained and inclusive growth

•      Strengthening national security for peace and prosperity

•      Boosting agriculture to achieve food security

•      Unlocking energy and natural resources for sustainable development

•      Enhancing infrastructure and transportation as enablers for growth

•      Focusing on education, health, and social investment as essential pillars of development

•      Accelerating diversification through industrialization, digitization, creative arts, manufacturing, and innovation; and

•      Improving governance for effective service delivery.

Ms. Bala-Usman said: “For each of these priority areas, we agreed on specific deliverables and developed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which formed the basis for the performance bond which all ministers and permanent secretaries signed with the President in November 2023. These parameters will guide the quarterly assessments and annual scorecards, which the CDCU is mandated to present to the President.

“The President also insisted that the pain points of citizens must be recognized in developing the deliverables and KPIs. In line with the directive, the CDCD worked with our partners to further review the deliverables into granular issues that have direct impact on the lives of Nigerians.

“At this juncture, I would like to give a little background on the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU). The Unit was established by Executive Order 13 of 2022 to, among other things, coordinate and monitor the implementation of presidential priorities through the development of deliverables and KPIs for each ministry.

“These deliverables and KPIs were developed in consultation with the ministries and culminated in the signing of performance bonds by ministers and permanent secretaries of each ministry with Mr. president.”

She said President Tinubu has decided to allow Nigerians to know what the government is doing and assess ministers because of his commitment to “citizen-centric approach to governance.”

“The CDCU has also developed a Delivery Reporting Framework and Template, to accurately assess and report the performance of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

“We are adopting international best practices and utilising globally recognized performance indicators and benchmarks to assess the performance of MDAs in the implementation of government priority programmes, projects, and policies.

“The Delivery Desk Officers are the foot soldiers tasked with the responsibility of tracking and reporting the performance of the MDAs ahead of the quarterly assessment.

“Our partners from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and Delivery Associates also joined us to share experiences from across the world at this four-day capacity building programme,” she added. Hadiza unveiled Citizens’ Delivery Tracker Application, which is available at the URL: app.cdcu.gov.ng.

She said: “It (the tracker) will be available for download on the Google Play Store and in the Apple store within the next month. This application will enable citizens to know the deliverables and key performance indicators to track.

“It also presents citizens with the opportunity to give real-time feedback on their assessment of policies, projects, and programmes of government from anywhere they are in the country.

 “Additionally, to actualise Mr. President’s desire to give all citizens the opportunity to join the CDCU in the tracking and monitoring of the policies, projects, and programmes of the Federal Government in line with presidential priorities, we have, over the past couple of months, worked to upgrade the Citizens’ Delivery Tracker App.

“The Citizens’ Delivery Tracker is an application which affords citizens the opportunity to view the priority programmes and projects of the Federal Government on their devices.

“We upgraded this application through consultations with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, and it is now ready for use.”

Giving insights into how the government plans to engage the citizens, the special adviser said: “The CDCU is also expected to sensitize citizens-based organizations, working with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and other civil society groups on the delivery of the presidential priorities.

“This is to be done by coordinating engagements on the priority programmes, initiatives, and projects, and providing up-to-date information using the citizens’ app and other channels of communication.

“Indeed, Mr. President is so committed to a citizen-centric approach to governance that he has mandated all ministries to hold quarterly sectorial engagement sessions with citizens.

“These citizen engagement sessions are part of universal deliverables that is applicable to all ministries and the engagements have already commenced for Q1 in consonance with Mr. President’s directives.

“The import of the preceding points is that the President is keen on leading an inclusive government through the involvement of all Nigerians in the governance process and that the CDCU is central to the actualization of this presidential aspiration.”

Responding to a question, she said: “The execution/ performance of constituency projects can be tracked in the Ministry of Special Duties.”

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2027: Hurdles Before The Coalition, By Emeka Monye

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The 2027 presidential election in Nigeria is shaping up to be a crucial contest between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and a potential coalition of opposition parties. Several hurdles need to be overcome for the opposition coalition to succeed.

The political class is already preparing for this quadrennial event, holding consultations, meetings, negotiations, among other contending factors.

The ruling party, The All Progressive Congress, appears to be the most beautiful bride at the moment as members of other opposition parties have been courting the party, in a gale of defections, in what many political pundits and analysts described as a political tsunami.

While the APC seems to be enjoying the foray of defections by other party members into their fold, the main opposition party, The Peoples Democractic Party, PDP, appears to have lost its steam in the run of play.

The once dominant party is plagued by a series of internal crises which many political analysts believe will be the party’s undoings.

The once largest political party in Africa and oldest in Nigeria since it was created in 1998 by some elder statesmen, is now a shadow of itself, living in past glory and trying to win its way back to national prominence.

Already, some past and present leaders of the party have been consulting, negotiating, discussing, even though they have agreed yet, all in a bit to wrestle power from the stronghold of the Bola Tinubu-Led APC at the centre.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Former Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 General elections, Peter Obi, former Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, among other bigwigs, are believed to be in talks with one another of how to build a possible coalition to edge the ruling APC in the power game.

Although, no concrete decision has been reached by the major actors, their negotiations and their inability to reach a consensus remain critical factors that might endanger the birth of a viable coalition.

Factors like who will step down for who as the realignment begins, remains a major issue, taking into consideration their individual experiences, exposures, skills, knowledge, capacities and egos.

Except this issue is resolved in the run up to the 2027 presidential polls, it will be a mirage for them to unseat the Tinubu-Led government.

While the running party is busy strategizing ahead of the 2027 presidential polls, the other parties are still grappling with their internal crisis.

Some analysts believe that Atiku’s past experience as Vice President under the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, might give him an edge, while others think Peter Obi’s popularity in the South could bring a geographical balance to the ticket.

For them to form a strong force against the APC, then, they must find common platform and agree on a candidate, which might be challenging given their different ideologies and interest.

Other factors which some political analysts have highlighted that may pose as a stumbling block agents the coalition is the timing. The time between and 2027 is quite a short time for the coalition to gather and make the desired impact.

This of course, is no brainer. Any merger of alliance must be arranged within a reasonable timeframe to be effective. Also, the coalition will have to convince the Nigerian voting public of its purpose and demonstrate a clear vision for the country’s future, particularly in the area of addressing the economic misfortunes of majority of the people. Another hurdle that would be staring the coalition in the face remains the issue of power rotation.

While the south believe it’s that turn to complete their second term in 2027, the north on the other hand argue that they have been short-changed in the governance structure of the country – in terms of number of years – since the return of democracy in 1999.

Out of the total 26 years, the north has ruled for 11 years, with the south 15 years. The issue remains a key factor that would affect the coalition to birth.

The coalition, must as a matter of urgency, decency decide on this unwritten agreement about rotating power between the North and the South, potentially present a southern for one term to allow the South to complete its own two terms for the office of the president.

In conclusion, the coalition, if it really wants to win power in 2027, must make a compelling case for itself, highlighting its unique strengths and vision, rather than just criticizing the incumbent.

It needs to differentiate itself and show Nigerians that it has a better alternative.

Emeka Monye Is A Journalist And Works With ARISE NEWS.

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Mauritania’s Tah succeeds Adesina as 9th AfDB President

Tah was elected to succeed Adesina after rounds of voting conducted by the AfDB Board of Governors during the Bank’s Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

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Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah has been elected as the ninth president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) as Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina prepares to bow out.

The Bank announced his election on its website on Thursday.

Adesina’s 10-year tenure will end this year and Tah is expected to assume office on September 1, 2025.

Tah was elected to succeed Adesina after rounds of voting conducted by the AfDB Board of Governors during the Bank’s Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The Board comprises finance ministers and central bank governors from the Bank’s 81 member countries.

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JUST IN: Appeal Court Affirms Okphebholo as Edo Governor

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‎‎The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed Monday Okphebholo as duly elected in the September 21, 2024 Edo Governorship polls, as it affirms the decision of the Tribunal which on April 2 dismissed the petition of Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for lacking merit. ‎‎

A three-man panel of the Appeal court, presided over by Justice Mohamed Danjuma, restated the position of the Tribunal which held that the PDP failed to provide sufficient and credible evidence to substantiate their claims of electoral malpractice, irregularities, and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.‎‎

The panel held that the PDP failed to provide sufficient and credible evidence to substantiate their claims of electoral malpractice, irregularities, and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. ‎‎

The Appellate Court agrees with the Tribunal that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) Machines which the appellants tendered were merely ‘dumped’ as they weren’t demonstrated to prove overvoting.

‎‎This the Court held after it earlier expunged the 133 BVAS machines admitted in evidence at the Tribunal stage of the Governorship tussle. ‎‎

Ighodalo and the PDP were further faulted by the Appellate Court for failing to tender the voter register to prove overvoting.

The Court further adds that BVAS extract doesn’t constitute items with which to prove overvoting. ‎‎It says the documents tendered by the PDP at the Tribunal did not, on their own, prove overvoting, non-holding or cancellation of elections at the polling units.

‎‎To further puncture the case of the PDP, the panel says the 19 witnesses called by the appellants during the Tribunal hearing didn’t help their case.

It says the majority of them did not witness what they spoke about. Moreso, it adds they were insufficient to prove irregularities in polling stations at over 4,000 locations.

‎‎Nigeria’s electoral body, INEC, had declared Okpebholo the winner with 291,667 votes, against Asue Ighodalo of the PDP who garnered 247,274 votes.

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