Perm Sec advocates statutory role for public institutions

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Dr.Tunji Olaopa, has advocated Statutory Duties that Public Institutions should account for their spending to ensure quality of service delivery.

Delivering a Paper Titled; Governance and LeadershipAuditat a Five days World Bank\ Ibadan Business School ExecutiveCertificateProgramme in Governance and Leadership Management inIbadan,Olaopa noted that good governance is the foundation of higherforming public services adding that, good governance extends beyond organisations, which include Partnerships and relations with local communities.

“Good governance ensures that organization do the right things, in the right way, for the right people, in a fair and equal, open,honest, timely and accountable way”.

While calling on the participants who are mostly high-ranking officials in the public sectors in the areas of Finance,Agriculture,Health, RuralDevelopment, and Education to be committed to quality service delivery, he reminded them that those in charge of public institutions are responsible for taxpayers’ money and such must be accountable in other to build trust, adding that, trust is at the heart of the relationship between citizens and government.

“Loss of trust will damage the Government’s aim of modernizing public service. The public service users can disengage, either by choosing other service options (where feasible), or by not wanting to participate in public service delivery. They might not vote, fail to respond to consultation, or, more significantly, withhold information or participation that enables public services to be delivered effectively wider common good”Olaopa said.

He advises those in governing roles to constantly assess the quality of their organization’s board, its decision-making capacity,the strength of internal challenge and review arrangements, and the quality of risk and performance management in order to achieve the desired result.

“The quality of governance is often reflected in the quality of decisionmaking. Public sector bodies must combine reliable information produced by hard systems and processes with the softer issues of openness and integrity to inform their judgment on key decisions. The more open and honest organizations are with themselves about their performance,the more openand honest they can be with service users and thepublic.

“This honesty is the foundation for decidingappropriateaction to remedypoor performance. Better quality services are thenmorelikely; improvedperformance and being more open will increase publictrust”, he said.

In his welcome address at the opening ceremony, thePresident/CEO of theIbadan Business School, Yinka Fasuyi who notedthatresources are neverenough to rise above the challenges in the developingworld,added that, whatare also needed are good governance, leadership andmanagement skills touse them both effectively and efficiently which, he saidcanonly beacquired through continual skills and knowledgeupgrade.

“The importance of capacity building today cannot beundermined, if it istrue that a nation’s greatest assets are its healthyhumancapital, then itbecomes obvious that building the capabilities of theworkforce within thepopulace, particularly in public institutions, in anera where economicresources continued to dwindle and face stiff competition iscentral tosustainable development”,Yinka Fasuyi said.

He added that, if a society andindeed thenation, Nigeria isgoing to realize the goals of sustainable development, the principal challenges of absence of appropriate and adequate human capital must be addressed and consequently, reinforced through capacity building workshop.

Besides he said the concepts of Governance andleadership encompasses strategic direction, plans and policies, effective oversight, regulation, motivation, and partnerships that integrate all organizational systems building blocks to achieve results, which he said the training is aimed at addressing.