FG pledges commitment to public service reforms

THE Federal Government has pledged commitment towards transforming the public service to top-notch service delivery.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, who made the disclosure at a meeting of secretaries to the state governments and  permanent secretaries/heads of cabinet affairs offices of states in Lagos, sought effective collaboration with state governments to facilitate the transformation process.

He insisted that public service delivery in Nigeria must be of the best quality such that security and infrastructure are assured as the nation marches onto the next level.

While congratulating the newly appointed secretaries to the state governments who were attending the meeting for the first time, Mustapha reminded the gathering that the forum at its previous meeting in Abuja had agreed to restructure and reorganise their administrative frameworks and responsibilities in order to improve service delivery.

He added that they also agreed to foster collaboration using a clear framework and develop a workable template to guide the synergy among other things.

He further noted that the Cabinet Affairs Office all over the world remained an indispensable tool for actualising the policy objectives of government both at the federal and state levels.

Mustapha added that the office effectively manages the policy-making process to enable governments take informed decisions required to address the numerous development challenges facing the country.

He said policy making and management are the most demanding and critical functions of government at all levels, adding that they require core competences and capabilities, especially from the cabinet affairs offices which are tasked with managing, coordinating and tracking the processes.

According to him, empirical evidence suggests that the development of any country largely depends on the policy options the government chooses and implements.

He said: “Sound policy decisions bring about good public policies and effective service delivery, although it is dependent on the political will to follow through to implementation.

“It is, therefore, our duty to ensure that we take full advantage of this opportunity to advance good policy options for the greater good of our nation. I know the task is enormous, but with renewed zeal and total commitment to our mandates, we shall deliver.”