For three consecutive years, the President Buhari led administration has convened a retreat to review the level of implementation of ministerial mandates along the nine priority areas. The just concluded Midterm Review Retreat, which held on the 11^th and 12^th October, 2021, also highlighted key impediments to the effective implementation and recommendations were made for accelerated and more effective delivery of the nine priority areas. Mr President also formally launched the Presidential Priorities Performance Management System (PMS) Dashboard operated by the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU).

This high-level event was attended by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari; the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; the President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and other Honorable Ministers and dignitaries including the British High Commissioner.

The British High Commissioner, Catriona Laing, and the United Nation’s Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, both gave good will messages. There were several solutions driven technical presentations and panel discussions during the 2-day retreat.

The Director of Development Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Nigeria, Dr Chris Pycroft, made a presentation on ‘Policy Coordination for Effective Governance in National Development’. He passionately spoke about how the Federal Government of Nigeria and the international community can establish a Mutual Accountability Framework around policy coordination, which will enhance effective governance in Nigeria.

In 2019, the first of the retreats was held to prepare and sensitize members of the cabinet (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 First year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in 2020 provided an opportunity for the President to review the First-Year report of the Ministerial Mandates, at the retreat, he also committed to setting up a delivery unit following UK’s former Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s testimony on the value of a Delivery Unit.

A Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) was established in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) with support from the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL) Programme. The CDCU is tasked with the responsibility of tracking and reporting performance against the Ministerial Mandates and outcome level results, as well as building capability and strengthening coordination for delivery of the nine priorities.

With the establishment of the CDCU, a performance management architecture has been developed which will aid a structured approach to the performance measurement.

While setting the objectives and context for the session, the SGF greatly appreciated PERL’s support over the years and particularly towards establishing the CDCU.

"I am grateful to note that, these achievements were made possible with the ardent support of our technical partners FCDO-PERL, who have provided technical assistance to the OSGF since 2019, to embed performance systems and operationalize the Delivery Unit up to the preparation for this retreat."

-  Boss Mustapha- Secretary to the Government of the Federation

The President ended the 2-day event with a closing speech that highlighted the appreciation of progress made and the importance of collaboration within ministries for enhanced results to enable the government to attain the desired goals by 2023.