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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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Yahaya Bello Vs EFCC: Court Adjourns Ruling and Continuation of Trials to June 26 , 27 and July 4 and 5

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You cannot cross examine him based on the document,” Daudu SAN argued. Enitan SAN added that he had the right to draw the attention of the court to some specific paragraphs in the document.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the hearing of the alleged money laundering case instituted against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to June 26, 27 and July 4 and 5 for ruling on the request by the prosecution to “cross-examine” the 3rd witness and for continuation of trial.

Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the hearing after listening to addresses by the prosecution and defence counsels on the Prosecution’s move to initially cross-examine the witness, a position that was rejected by the Defendant’s Counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN.

When the matter was called for continuation of cross-examination, the Defendant’s counsel asked the witness, Nicholas Ojehomon, whether he had testified in other courts with respect to the issue of school fees paid by the Bello family to AISA, he said yes.

But the witness, an internal auditor at the American International School, Abuja, said he could not mention the exact courts.

He admitted testifying in a similar charge involving Ali Bello but added that he never said anything adversely against former Governor Yahaya Bello just as he had not said anything negative or adversely against him in the instant charge.

After Daudu SAN concluded the cross-examination of the witness, Nicholas Ojehomon, the EFCC’s lawyer, Olukayode Enitan, SAN, moved to also cross-examine the Commission’s witness on Exhibit 19.

He told the court that he was not re-examining the EFCC’s witness, but cross-examining him because the document was admitted in evidence.

“I am not re-examining him, I am cross-examining him because they brought this document,” he said.

The Defendant’s lawyer, however, drew the court’s attention to the fact that the prosecution counsel’s position was unknown to law, in line with the Evidence Act.

“If you want to cross-examine your own witness, you have to first declare him a hostile witness. You cannot cross examine him based on the document,” Daudu SAN argued. Enitan SAN added that he had the right to draw the attention of the court to some specific paragraphs in the document.

At this point, the judge asked: “Do you have any provision of the law to support this?””I will draw your lordship attention to Section 36 of the Constitution.

They sought to tender this document, we objected and the court granted their prayer. Fair hearing demands that the complainant too has the right to examine this because Section 36 of the Constitution talks of fair hearing,”

Enitan responded. “We are not saying that they cannot re-examine the witness. That is what Section 36 under the law says about fair hearing. But if it is to cross-examine him, he will have to show us the law that backs that.

“He cannot come under the guise of fair hearing to want to cross-examine the witness,” the Defendant’s lawyer maintained. The judge, at the end of the arguments, refused to allow cross-examination of the witness by the EFCC lawyer.”

Under the procedure, the witness gives evidence in chief and the defendant cross examines, then the prosecution re-examines.

“With due respect, what I will do is if you people are so skewed to continue with this, it is better to address me on this and I will take a position,” he stated.

At this point, the prosecution counsel agreed to re-examine the EFCC’s witness and the judge gave him the go-ahead.”You can re-examine him on that but not to ask questions that will show cross examination,” Justice Nwite said.

However, when the prosecution lawyer proceeded to re-examine the witness, and his questions pointed at cross-examination, as observed by Daudu SAN, the judge insisted that the parties had to address him on the specific issue.

The Defendant’s Counsel, in his address, maintained that the position was unknown to law.

“My lord, the procedure that is being sought by the prosecution by refering the witness to the document tender in Exhibit 19 and by asking him to read paragraph 1, without drawing his attention to the issue on how the document affected his evidence in chief, the question asked in cross-examination, and the ambiguity, which needs clarification, amounts to a strange and unknown procedure not covered by the Evidence Act,” he stated.

Enitan SAN, disagreed, saying that in the case of Amobi Amobi referred to by the defendant’s counsel, the Supreme Court held that the learned trial judge ought to have allowed a re-examination of Exhibit E.

He said when the defendant sought to introduce the document, the prosecution team “submitted that this document was not made by the witness and as such, he should not be allowed to speak to it under cross examination or allowed to be confronted with it.”

“Having brought it in now, during the case of the prosecution, particularly during the cross examination of PW-3, your lordship should not allow them to shut us out as that would amount to the court allowing them to blow hot and cold,” Pinheiro SAN said.

Justice Nwite thereafter adjourned to June 26, 27 and July 4 and 5 for ruling and continuation of trial.

The 3rd prosecution witness had, at the last hearing on Thursday, said there was no wired transfer of fees from the Kogi State Government or any of the local Governments in the state to the account of the American International School, Abuja.

He also read out a part of a previous Federal Capital Territory High Court judgment that said there was no court order for AISA to return fees to EFCC or any judgment declaring the money as proceeds of money laundering.

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Bill Gates to give away 99% of his wealth

“I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned,” Gates, 69, wrote in a statement.

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The Gates Foundation plans to give away $313 billion over the next 20 years before shutting down entirely in 2045.

The move, according to Bloomberg, marks a new deadline for one of history’s largest and most influential charities.

That target would represent a doubling in spending for the non-profit foundation which has disbursed more than $100 billion since it was co-founded by Microsoft Founder Bill Gates and Melinda Gates in 2000.

Originally, the foundation was set to close 20 years after Gate’s death.

“I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned,” Gates, 69, wrote in a statement.

“I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world,” he added.

Credit: Bloomberg

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Peter Obi’s Comparison of Nigeria’s Educational System With Bangladesh, Turkiye

Bangladesh, which once lagged behind Nigeria in virtually every measurable development index, now surpasses us in all key areas of development and in the Human Development Index (HDI).

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Peter Obi wrote on his X( Twitter) : “I just came across the official results from JAMB showing the recent exam figures.

In the data shared by JAMB, a total of 1,955,069 candidates sat for the exam.

Shockingly, out of this number, only about 420,000 candidates scored above 200, while over 1.5 million scored below 200.

This means that over 78% of the total candidates failed to meet the 200-mark threshold — a reflection of the deep-rooted challenges in our educational system.

The latest JAMB results once again highlight the consequences of decades of underinvestment in education, a sector that should be central to our national development strategy.

Currently, Nigeria’s total university enrollment stands at approximately 2 million students.

By comparison, the National University of Bangladesh — a single university — has over 3.4 million students enrolled, despite the country having only about 75% of Nigeria’s population.

One university in Bangladesh surpasses the entire university enrollment in Nigeria.

Bangladesh, which once lagged behind Nigeria in virtually every measurable development index, now surpasses us in all key areas of development and in the Human Development Index (HDI).

Similarly, Turkey (now Turkiye), with a population of about 87.7 million people, has over 7 million university students — more than three times Nigeria’s total university enrollment.

I have consistently said it: education is not just a social service; it is a strategic investment.

It is the most critical driver of national development and the most powerful tool for lifting people out of poverty.

We must now invest aggressively in education — at all levels — if we are serious about building a prosperous, secure, and equitable Nigeria.”

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