Barely two months in the saddle, President Bola Tinubu has indeed hit the ground and sprinting.
With a bunch of policy pronouncements backed by sackings, appointments, and executive orders, the Jagban Borgu has demonstrated that he was more than prepared for the job.
The administration, yet to fully take shape, has outlined its economic policies and aspirations. Top on the card is achieving a seven percent annual GDP growth; creating 50 million jobs and lifting a hundred million out of poverty; delivering sustained and inclusive growth; and taking the national economy to the $1 trillion mark in eight years!
Beyond the projections and optimism, Nigerians are becoming increasingly critical of promises made by government and political appointees. In the near future, months rather than years, citizens will begin to ask questions from the Tinubu Administration. More importantly, Nigerians will ask questions about government’s handling of the seemingly intractable headaches of insecurity, kidnapping and inflation.
President Tinubu, with his team, to make an impact, will have to convince Nigerians about their commitment to accountability, transparency and good governance.
To pluck a seemingly low-hanging fruit, President Tinubu must quickly ask the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Cabinet Affairs Office to brief him on the Presidential Delivery Tracker and Central Delivery Coordination Unit, CDCU, unveiled in August, last year by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Widely acclaimed as an innovative policy of the government, the Presidential Delivery Tracker and Central Delivery Coordination Unit were designed to enable citizens report on the Presidential Priority Projects and Programmes being implemented by the government in their locality.
The system also provides the opportunity for citizens to assess the level of project implementation. It serves as a feedback mechanism in line with increasing global demand by civil society and citizens to have a greater say in public decision-making, and the desire by government to improve trust and be more inclusive and responsive to citizens’ needs.
The innovation heralds the much-desired interface between the government and the governed. Citizens now have the opportunity to monitor federal projects scattered across the country, and also evaluate the value and benefits of public funds appropriated and disbursed.
The annual budgetary appropriation to finance key sectors headlined as capital expenditures, run into billions in local and foreign currencies. Beyond the figures, 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 is a ready example. The Executive and Legislative arms of government as well as host communities have often disagreed on the value of money 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 President Tinubu and his team.
The last administration outlined nine priority areas, as well as 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 the President, established in the year 2020 with the key mandate of tracking the implementation of Policies, Programmes, and Projects of Ministries along the 9 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, the CDCU has incorporated a Performance Management System with Dashboards set up in key offices which serve as tools for measuring MDAs performance in real-time in the implementation of Ministerial deliverables against negotiated targets.
“A Unified Collaborative Results Framework has been developed for the 9 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,” said Mr. James Sule, the permanent secretary who was then in charge of cabinet affairs at the OSGF disclosed at the unveiling of the dashboard.
He explained that the CDCU Website is also deployed to create public awareness of the delivery of priority projects and programs by the Federal Government. It also provides an avenue for citizens to proactively demand greater accountability and responsiveness from the Government.
The Buhari Administration gave priority to the economy, agriculture, energy transportation, infrastructure, industrialization, education, healthcare, security, anti-corruption, governance and poverty reduction. The Tinubu government must quickly define its priorities amidst rising inflation and pervasive poverty!
Indeed, the application of technology and widespread use of social media platforms will further help the citizens to hold the government accountable to promises and also scrutinize the execution of projects and programmes.
Experts have hailed the CDCU as a project to empower citizens to make their voices heard, build citizen 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, receiving feedback from the populace, and identifying/suggesting ways of improvement. It can also foster citizens’ voices, discussions, and debates to demand service improvement.
It will help 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.
When allowed to function properly, the system will not only promote effective project implementation, and instill a desire for high standards, but also deepen accountability and transparency at all levels and stimulate continued policy dialogue and strategic engagement among all stakeholders.
The CDCU will accelerate the commitment and collaboration with all MDAS to ensure that Nigeria maximizes the use of the platforms to advance the process of embedding performance management processes and align the performance framework for tracking service delivery by various agencies.
Dr. Christopher Pycroft, Director (Development), Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, has suggested that to ensure transparency and accountability in public programmes and projects implementation, the Nigerian government should ensure that its officials and contractors that fail to deliver are made to face sanctions.
“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 recommended.
The Tinubu administration requires immense goodwill from citizens to succeed. The amount of support and acceptance it gets will certainly be measured by its willingness and commitment to fight corruption, reduce wastage in the government, and promote accountability by guaranteeing that the Nigerian public indeed receives value for the government’s investment in social and economic projects.
