The need for more collaboration amongst federal government ministries and the review of progress on the delivery of the Federal Government’s 9-Priority Agenda were among the focus areas of the First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat for Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, and top government functionaries held on September 7 & 8 2020, at the State House, Abuja.

The event, which aimed at creating transparency on the status of implementation of Policies, Programmes and Projects of Government, was attended by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari; the vice-president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; the President of the Senate, Sen Ahmad Lawan; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; and the Governor of Ekiti State and the Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

The First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat is a follow-up to the Presidential retreat held in August 2019 to prepare and sensitize Cabinet members (including the 43 newly appointed Ministers) on the status of Policies, Programmes and Projects of Government and on the roadmap towards the delivery of Federal Government priorities and Next Level Agenda for 2019 – 2023.

The Ministerial Performance Review Retreat provided an opportunity for the President Buhari–led administration to review the First-Year report of the Ministerial Mandates with respect to the commitment to deliver on the 9 Priority Areas of the government.

The Retreat also provided an opportunity for technical partners such as PERL and KPMG to support the presentation of the findings of the Independent Assessment and the First Year Scorecard and Summary of Ministerial/MDA Performance 2020 to Ministers to the highly distinguished audience to create deeper understanding of the status of implementation of government’s nine priority areas.

In his Opening Speech, His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari said the Ministers have rendered reports to the Federal Executive Council on their activities and outputs related to the achievement of government priorities, which include: stabilizing the economy; achieving agriculture and food security; attaining energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products; improving transportation and other infrastructure; driving industrialization with a special focus on SMEs; expanding access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity of Nigerians; enhancing social inclusion by scaling up social investments; as well as building a system to fight corruption, improve governance and strengthen national security.

Speaking on the objectives of the retreat, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha said, “Specifically, at this retreat we will review the performance of each Minister in delivering the priority projects assigned to them upon their appointment in 2019; identify key impediments to implementation, and re-strategize on how to deliver on the priority areas moving forward, taking into cognizance key underlying factors that have affected performance and delivery”.

The SGF emphasized the need for the Presidential aides to work assiduously to deliver on the promises of President Buhari’s administration to Nigerians, which includes lifting 100 million people out of poverty.
The two-day event was divided into three sessions, which included the ministerial performance review to identify improvement opportunities; and key learnings from other jurisdictions by the former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, a Chief Economist of the World Bank and a Senior Partner of McKinsey. The third session focused on strategy to accelerate the execution and delivery of government priority areas.

The retreat was also attended by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari; the former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair; the World Bank Chief Economist for Africa, Albert Zeufack; current and former Secretaries to the Government of the Federation; and Ministers, Director Generals, and Permanent Secretaries of Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies.