President Muhammadu Buhari has written a personal letter to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, commending him for organising a successful Ministers’ Retreat.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-day ‘First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat’, from Sept. 7, was organised to assess the performance of the government in the last one year.
Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, said the president was “impressed” with the SGF’s performance at the retreat.
Buhari lauded Mustapha’s organisational competence and comprehensive speech delivered during the retreat.
The president said: “I am writing to personally recognise your competence and commend the way you organised and led the Ministers’ Retreat.
“The intellectual inputs by the panel, chaired by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed were remarkable.
“The benefits derived from the committees’ discussions were enormous and the added values to the Ministers’ and Permanent Secretaries’ experiences are very much appreciated.
“Your comprehensive speech at the beginning of the second day of the Retreat proved your capacity and experience.
“For those of us who missed the first day of the retreat, the speech adequately prepared us for the second and final day of the occasion.
“I am happy to write this short letter of appreciation to you because, I am very impressed with your performance at the Retreat’’.
The retreat was attended by cabinet members, permanent secretaries as well as technical partners and resource persons via online.
At the end of the plenary session of the retreat, the SGF revealed that five key issues emerged:
The need to review and reprioritise the interventions in the ministerial mandates to meet the new emerging socio-economic environment and deliver on Presidential priorities.
The need for Key Performance Indicators and annual targets that smartly define success of interventions in each priority area for improved performance assessment going forward.
The need for inter-agency collaboration to drive delivery and synergy among implementing MDAs.
The need to accelerate the implementation of the economic sustainability plan in order to respond to the challenges associated with COVID-19 pandemic; and
Adequacy and timeliness of fund releases to execute projects and programmes of the ministerial mandates.
According to him, as part of the strategy towards ensuring the effective realisation of these objectives, the OSGF will sustain the ongoing discussions after the retreat with ministers.
“This is with a view to reviewing and re-prioritising interventions in the light of the lessons learnt so that we can deliver as agreed.’’
Mustapha, therefore, stressed the need for ministers and heads of agencies, under their supervision, to work together to strengthen inter-agency collaboration toward driving delivery and synergy among implementing MDAs.
