……Fagbemi Tells Heads of Agencies.
The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, has told Heads of Agencies under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Justice that he would hold each of them to the highest standard of performance.
Fagbemi said this at the Performance Contract Signing Ceremony with Heads of Agencies which held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Hall of the Ministry, on 28th February, 2024.
According to the HAGF, “I will hold every Head of Agency to the highest standard of performance in line with the declarations you have made today. It is therefore imperative that you cascade the contents of your presentation to all level of leadership in your agencies in order to ensure performance on the job and a clear understanding of your mandates under the performance bond”.
He asserted that the signing ceremony “symbolizes the commitment of the Heads of Agencies under the purview of the Ministry, towards actualizing the Presidential Priority Areas of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and well as Ministerial Deliverables”.
Fagbemi expressed gratitude to the Chief Executives for their dedication to service delivery and coordination of human and material resources to meet their respective mandates. He also thanked them for the presentations, targets, promises, the SWOT analysis and initiatives targeted at ensuring the attainment of the Ministerial Deliverables and the 2024 Work Plan.
The HAGF explained further that “it is our collective responsibility to lead the charge for improved Governance and effective Service Delivery in our respective MDAs, with the overall aim of improved socio- economic development of our society. Some of the ways which we can achieve this onerous responsibility within our respective MDAs include setting clear and measurable goals, establishing a system for monitoring and evaluating performance, providing training and development opportunities for employees, encouraging active participation and engagement from citizens and stakeholders, and providing incentives and recognition for accountability”.
“I therefore wish to charge you all to take initiatives towards improving public service delivery strategies in the justice sector. It is undoubted that the justice sector is key towards ensuring socio- economic development of the nation, through improved access to justice. Access to justice in this regards calls for synergy between MDAs in ensuring legal protection, legal awareness, legal aid and counsel, adjudication, enforcement, and supporting sustainable peace and security through effective alternative dispute resolution mechanisms”. Fagbemi added.
He reminded them of the Presidential Retreat held in November, 2023, which ended with the President signing a Performance Bond with Cabinet Ministers and Permanent Secretaries to ensure a base line for the scorecard of Ministries. Thus, the HAGF and the SGF had signed the said Performance Contract with the President on behalf of the Chief Executives, promising to ensure the performance of the Ministerial Deliverables assigned to the Ministry and its agencies.
He charged them to ensure that the Justice Sector Plan, which contains fifteen (15) Ministerial Deliverables; 49 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); Base lines and Targets are met. Also, he reminded them of his earlier directive to peruse the Ministerial deliverables to discover their roles in ensuring optimal performance of the Presidential Priorities (Sector Plan 2023-2027); encapsulate the Ministerial Deliverables into their Agencies/Parastatals Strategic Plan and Draw up the 2024 work plan from the initiatives captured therein.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba. OON, mni disclosed that in order to actualize the directive of HAGF, the Ministry engaged in a 3-day hand holding workshop to prepare the internal committee members drawn from Agencies/Parastatals of their roles and responsibilities, has now culminated into signing of performance bond to enable objective mechanism that will benchmark and measure performance.
The SGF/PS thanked and appreciated the Attorney -General of the Federation and Minister of Justice for his leadership, unfailing commitment and tireless efforts at transforming the justice sector of Nigeria for improved performance.
Heads of Agencies, Commissions and Departments under the Federal Ministry of Justice including Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, Nigerian Law School, Nigeria Institute for Advance Legal Studies, Nigerian Law Reform Commission, Nigeria Copy Right Commission, National Human Rights Commission, Regional Commercial Administration Centre and National Agency for prohibition of Trafficking in Persons were in attendance.
In their respective presentations, the Heads/ Chief Executives highlighted their vision, mission, mandate, targets, promises, SWOT analysis and initiatives towards ensuring the attainment of the Ministerial Deliverables and the 2024 Work Plan of their Agencies. They also intimated the HAGF with the challenges facing them in their agencies.
Modupe Ogundoro
Director (Information)
Press and Public Relations
