By ERIC MOORE
THE Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA) has said the Policy Coordination and the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) of President Bola Tinubu’s government should make public the component factors for the assessment of incumbent cabinet members.
NDRA, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, by its Head of Research, Chuks Alozie, said it would be important that the CDCU eshews bias in all ramifications in carrying out the assessment of serving public office holders.
The group commended the presidency for the decision to rejig its cabinet, saying it had since advocated for such cabinet shake-up because some ministers have performed abysmally.
According to the group, there should be a consensus on having more efficient and energetic cabinet to drive the policies and programmes of President Tinubu’s government.
The Head of Research, Alozie, stated: “NDRA had earlier in the year advocated the recalibration of the cabinet as presently constituted and this position corroborates that of the larger spectrum of stakeholders.
“We demand that the Policy Coordination and the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) under the Presidency be totally insulated from political nuances as this is the only way a proper Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the performance of ministers who are the salesmen of the administration’s policies/agenda, can get fair and trustworthy assessment.
“We would like to also state that making the component factors for this assessment of public officers such as Cabinet Ministers should be open to public debate and scrutiny. This will enhance transparency in the process of evaluation going forward.”
The group further proposed the integration of the Ministry of Police Affairs into the Interior Ministry to cut cost of running the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Alozie stated: “The NDRA wishes to propose that as part of strategy to implement the much talked about Steve Orasanye Report on the harmonization of MDAs and to help government cut cost, the Ministry of Police Affairs be integrated into the Interior Ministry under Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, as the Ministry under Dr. Tunji-Ojo has delivered on the critical elements of good governance and public accountability which has increased citizens’ trust in the present administration.
“The NDRA believes that performance should be measured in terms of the level of achievement of the objectives of each Ministry (which simply put its effectiveness) or the level of costs incurred to achieve these objectives (efficiency). And we believe that the Interior Ministry under the current administration has hit that mark and signposts efficiency for a public agency.
“Furthermore, we challenge the Policy Coordination and the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) to publish its benchmarks (tools/indicators) for further public scrutiny and contestation of logic, in order to ensure that those public officials who fall terribly below par, do not even get the chance to hold public offices in future (whether elective or appointment).
“It will also help ruling parties to cascade the idea of properly scrutinizing persons they nominate into public offices going forward.”