A large number of Nigerians are convinced that President Muhammadu Buhari would labour hard to count his blessings when he leaves office on May 29, next year.
Whatever critics haul at him, the president would depart holding his head high as an apostle of accountability, transparency and commitment to good governance.
Transparency tool unveiled
Tuesday, August 30, 2022, would find a space in Buhari’s memoir as historic with the unveiling of the Presidential Delivery Tracker and Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
The innovation heralds the much-desired interface between the government and the governed. Citizens are now empowered to monitor federal projects scattered across the country and also evaluate the value and benefits of public funds appropriated and disbursed.
Annually, Nigeria’s budgetary appropriation to finance key sectors headlined as capital expenditures runs into billions of local and foreign currencies, but this done, Nigerians have always had the cause to complain that the expected impact and evidence run contrary to either government claims or that the proofs are not proportional to the outputs.
The case of projects executed by the Niger Delta Development Commission are ready examples. The executive and legislative arms of government as well as host communities have often disagreed on the value of billions of naira disbursed.
Indeed, there are several federal government projects; many under construction and many delivered in sub-standard conditions. Situations where projects and programmes are delivered sub-optimally should be a cause for worry to the government.
The Buhari administration, which earlier outlined nine priority areas was never oblivious of the need to receive real-time feedback from the citizens to enable those concerned better understand the state of any of such projects and offer support.
“The CDCU is one of the initiatives of Mr President established in the year 2020 with the key mandate of tracking the implementation of policies, programmes and projects of ministries along the nine priority areas of the federal government. The unit also identifies and resolves issues that create bottlenecks and impediments to the delivery of presidential priorities.
“To achieve this objective, CDCU has incorporated a Performance Management System with dashboards sets up in key offices which serve as tools for measuring MDAs performance in real-time in the implementation of ministerial deliverable against negotiated targets.
“A Unified Collaborative Results Framework has been developed for the nine priority areas, incorporating all the 302 ministerial deliverables that have direct impact on each priority, while a total of 455 output indicators are being tracked across the 29 ministries, including the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,” James Sule, permanent secretary in charge of cabinet affairs at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, disclosed at the unveiling of the dashboard.
He also noted that the CDCU website is also deployed to create public awareness on delivery of priority projects and programmes of the federal government and also provides an avenue for citizens to proactively demand greater accountability and responsiveness from the government.
The Buhari-led administration, having given priority to the economy, agriculture, energy transportation, infrastructure, industrialisation, education, healthcare, security, anti-corruption, governance and poverty reduction believed that these priority areas would address the challenges confronting many Nigerians.
Tool reliable – Mustapha
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, expressed confidence that the tracker, designed to allow citizens report on the Presidential Priority Projects and Programmes that are being implemented by the government in their localities, would also provide the opportunity for citizens to assess the level of implementation. This, he noted, would enable CDCU to triangulate the feedbacks from citizens with reports obtained from the implementing ministries.
He added that the citizens engagement initiative is in line with increasing global demand by civil society and citizens to have greater say in public decision-making, and the desire among many governments to improve trust, and be more inclusive and responsive to citizens’ needs.
“This has been strengthened by the rise of innovations in technology which provides citizens with new and unprecedented opportunities to directly engage policy makers to facilitate closing the ‘Feedback Loop’ between citizens and governments,” Mustapha added.
The application of technology, he reckoned, would enhance the participation of people in local decision-making processes in a sustainable manner, which goes beyond listening to people but making the development process and institutions more inclusive.
“As we are all aware, citizens engagement allows us to broaden the development dialogue to include the views and perspectives of traditionally marginalised groups leading to more inclusive institutions – governments, development organisations, and donor agencies alike,” said Mustapha.
The SGF disclosed that CDCU would empower citizens to make their voices heard, build citizens engagement programmes that work and inculcate participation that increases benefits if discussed with the people.
“The Presidential Delivery Tracker and CDCU website will serve as means of disseminating information on public service delivery to the citizens, receive feedback from the populace, and identify/suggest ways of improvement. It would also foster citizens’ voice, discussion and debate to demand for service improvement,” he said.
He emphasized the need for citizens to know their rights and obligations and to demand and access quality services through the instrumentality of government in a democratic environment like Nigeria.
“This will not only promote effective project implementation, instil a desire for high standard, but also deepen accountability and transparency at all levels and stimulate continued policy dialogue and strategic engagement among all stakeholders,” the SGF noted.
Finance minister corroborates
The minister of finance, budget and national planning Mrs Zainab Ahmed noted that public accountability in service delivery plays important role in government institutions and the nation’s economy. “It could be successfully argued that the economic well-being of any country is dependent, to a very large extent, on the strength, integrity, and complexity of its institutions and on its accountability to governmental services.”
She added that promoting public accountability and improving service delivery in government institutions with the tracker and website would assist government in meeting set objectives.
Government she said is desirous of working with all genuine and interested stakeholders to create the enabling environment for Nigerians to reap the benefits of its abundant intellectual resources.
Civil society input
Ms Obialunanma Nnaobi-Ayodele, Nigeria co-chairperson of Open Government Partnership, (OGP), a civil society organisation, pledged the commitment of the civil society to continue working together with the government to see that the values for which the platform was conceived are delivered, while continuing to hold the government accountable to its responsibilities.
She noted that OGP as well as other organisations would like to see the measure of transparency of government on the degrees of openness and disclosure and level of trust that the engagement with the app would generate.
Nnaobi-Ayodele urged the media to give the app the necessary visibility and push to ensure that every Nigerian who has access to a smart phone is aware of its existence and can contribute to it. She said when the tracker becomes fully operational, it would encourage public action, contribute to building trust in government and generally build upon the nation’s democracy.
Dr Christopher Pycroft, director (Development), Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, believed that in its bid to guarantee transparency and accountability in public programmes and projects implementation, the government should ensure that its officials and contractors that fail to deliver are made to face sanctions or pay relevant costs.
“Officials and contractors should face sanctions or costs if programmes are not implemented. It is also important that prior to project implementation, citizens are part of programme conception and that government projects reflect the needs of citizens. This is critical for building the social contract between citizens and government,” he suggested.
Now that the federal government has made real its promise to boost accountability by guaranteeing that the public indeed receives value for government’s investment in projects in the priority sectors, Nigerians ought to seize the opportunity to partner with the government and reduce the burden on the security and anti-corruption agencies.
It is crucial to note that the measure to bridge the shortfall in public scrutiny has just been opened to all to ensure that citizens are not just whistle blowers but responsible partners with the government on development and transparency.
As advocated by the Nnaobi-Ayodele, not just the media, but also civil society, every Nigerian of goodwill must accept and show commitment to the use of the CDCU tracker as an enduring innovation of the Buhari administration.
Kareem is a public policy analyst
