The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) has been awarded the “Silver Level Certificate in Management and Governance Practice’’ by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).
The council was awarded the prize following an assessment exercise conducted by BPSR to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of its services.
The Acting Director-General of BPSR, Mr Dasuki Arabi, who presented the certificate to the Director-General of NASC, Dr Philip Ojo, at a brief ceremony in Abuja on Friday, commended the council for the feat.
Arabi said that the silver level performance award given to NASC meant that the council had met public expectations in all its essential areas of responsibility, at times exceeding certain expectations, while the quality of its work was generally good.
According to him, the achievement also shows that the council has fulfilled its most critical organisational goals.
Arabi said that in the assessment, all the management, operational and bureaucratic processes of NASC were examined, based on the nine main domain areas, with the aid of the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) developed by BPSR.
He listed the areas as strategic governance, strategic planning and operational leadership, financial management, procurement processes, operational and service delivery processes, human resource management and planning, partnerships and resource mobilisation as well as change management.
“The Bureau deployed SAT in NASC between July 6 and Aug. 29 at the council’s corporate headquarters in Abuja and its zonal offices.
“Under the field of governance, we have found out that the NASC governing board provides the policy framework and direction for the council to function.
“Indirectly, we have found a functioning board that is maintaining an active and wonderful relationship between them, management and staff of the organisation.
“The governing board has ensured the establishment of an anti-corruption policy and you are doing fantastically well in the seed companies we visited at Kano. You need every support of the Federal Government,’’ he said.
The acting director-general, however, said that some challenges and weaknesses were identified in the course of the exercise, adding that these would be discussed with the council so as to facilitate its progress.
He said that a policy brief on NASC would be forwarded to the Federal Executive Council through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, with the hope that Federal Government would act on it.
Responding, Ojo said that the rating underscored the achievements of the council within the short period of its collaboration with BPSR and other partners.
“To a large extent, it shows the way stakeholders appreciate the efforts of the council in sanitising the agricultural space in Nigeria through the deployment of good-quality seeds by seed entrepreneurs.
“The information gap between BPSR, the council and farmers have been closed within a short period.
“Today, we have every reason to celebrate, as we open our doors for BPSR to sustain the administration of its Self-Assessment Tool (SAT).
“We want SAT to be done on a yearly basis and I recommend it to other agencies that have yet to key into it,’’ he said.
The director-general said that he viewed the silver level rating as a call on the council to improve its service delivery to farmers and other stakeholders.
Ojo expressed the commitment of the NASC management, under his leadership, to implementing the recommendations in the BPSR assessment. (NAN)
