The Director General Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Joe Abah has lamented the depth of poor public service delivery by government agencies in Nigeria despite significant increases in funding to these institutions.
The DG who made this known in Abuja recently while delivering the keynote address at a Dissemination and lessons learning workshop to identify common constraints and incentive problems in service delivery in Nigeria, said it was the legitimate expectations of citizens to be served right and the responsibility of government to deliver services to the people through its Public Service promptly and at affordable rates.
Having identified this lapse, the BPSR undertook a study from 20th February to 3rd March 2017 to identify common constraints and incentive problems to service delivery in four areas: the process of obtaining international Passport from the Nigerian Immigration Services, tax clearance certificate from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, National Identity card from the National identity Management commission, and Driver’s Licence from the Federal Road Safety commission.
The DG further said that by placing the available evidence side by side with the lessons learnt, it is hoped that the outcome of the workshop will contribute to the development of a more structured foundation for ongoing work on the politics of service delivery by the present Administration.
The DG also disclosed that service delivery across public institutions in Nigeria is at the heart of the this administration and the recognition that the customer is the most important person to any government organisation has driven it to initiate a number of reform measures that are designed around customer service improvement and business felicitations.
Abah also reiterated that there will always be the need for transparency in the conduct of government business such that the process of governance is more open, and information about government operations more accessible. He also stated that greater accountability will also throw government and its organs open to proper scrutiny at all levels, adding that people will accept responsibility for their fate wherever they transgress the norms of societal behaviour and betray corporate trust.
The Director, Corporate Services of the Bureau, D.I Arabi, in his welcome remarks expressed gratitude to the European Union Delegation to Nigeria for their continued support to the Bureau and specifically for financing the Study.
Anastasia Ogbonna
