Jeffrey Adaralegbe

The Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, and the heads of the Ministry’s agencies formally signed performance contracts as the Ministry of Interior wrapped up its two-day performance retreat.

The retreat, which got underway in Abuja on Monday, October 28, 2024, with the theme “United Front for a Secure Nation and Future,” focused on the Ministry’s primary responsibility of guaranteeing safety, security, and efficient service provision.

This initiative to sign Performance Contracts supports the Ministry’s dedication to providing quantifiable, outcome-oriented services that are in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Speaking to the media after Tuesday’s Performance Contract Signing, Dr. Tunji-Ojo stated that the exercise was important for making a significant difference in Nigeria’s security environment rather than just being a show.

The Minister declared, “This initiative is about the effect on Nigerians and on Nigeria as a whole.” It is time to extend this degree of accountability to every agency after our Ministry and Mr. President signed a performance contract last year and carried it out for a year. Every agency has measurable, unambiguous deliverables now that quarterly appraisals are in place.

Our goal is to be able to evaluate ourselves. We want to be able to set goals for ourselves because we know that this is not the time to make excuses for Nigerians.

“The Renewed Hope Agenda is the agenda in question. Additionally, this agenda needs to be carried out and Nigerians need to see that it is truly effective. Our goal today is to understand that leadership is a pyramid and to be able to cascade. “You can only be as strong as the base, regardless of who is at the top,” the Minister emphasized.

The Minister emphasized that President Tinubu had stated unequivocally that “your performance will determine your relevance in the system” and that the signed performance contract directly aligns his role with his mandate.

He clarified that he was appointed to make sure the Ministry of Interior was implementing the Renewed Hope Agenda and that each head of the agency and employee had a task to complete.

The Minister claims that this is a performance-driven administration that emphasizes “business unusual” and goes beyond “business as usual.” In closing, he reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to carrying out the President’s agenda with the highest integrity and dedication, rather than failing the President or disappointing Nigerians.

Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Interior, in partnership with Zimedy Services Limited, held a Performance Management System (PMS) workshop in anticipation of this milestone. The workshop gave directors and agency heads the skills they needed to put in place a strong PMS framework and gave them the means to efficiently track and evaluate progress toward goals.

In her concluding remarks, Permanent Secretary Dr. Ajani emphasized the significance of this commitment. With today’s contract signing, each member of this Ministry has a specific role to play in fulfilling our commitments to the Nigerian people, she said. Even though the work is just getting started, we are all dedicated to making quantifiable progress in each of the areas we are in charge of.

The heads of the Ministry’s agencies also promised to respect these guidelines and actively support the Ministry’s overarching objective of modernizing its services for a more secure and safe Nigeria.

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu has said that his vision is to make NASENI the number one innovation and technology transfer Agency in the country.

Mr. Halilu who stated this yesterday as he marked one year in office, recounted his achievements in his first year in office as Chief Executive of the Agency, saying he made a promise in 2023 that he was going to take NASENI products from the shelves to the market. “One year after, it is a case of promise made and kept”, he said.

“I made promises of increased activities and market ready technology profile for NASENI on my assumption of office. I made a promise of what we were going to do and the projects that we were going to embark on, and today the products are here for you all to see. This is just one year for me; and this is just another opportunity to say that we are going to do more. We are going to have a better NASENI, focusing on the socio-economic development of our nation, Nigeria and the fulfilment of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government” he said.

While stating that he would do more to have a better NASENI, he said not less than 36 products from NASENI are already in the market. “We are not necessarily in the retail market for now, only in the corporate market. We want to have a showroom where people can walk in and buy in retail and we are in the process of setting that up soon”, he remarked.

The EVC of NASENI further noted that all the products of the Agency developed in the last one year are products of collaborations with strategic partners and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with local content inputs in them. “We collaborate, we do technology transfer, we domesticate and commercialize together,” he added.

The Agency has in the past one year, since the assumption of office of Halilu as CEO, introduced about 36 market-ready products and are in the market. The products include Solar Irrigation pumps, electric cars (EV), Android Smartphone, Solar Home System, Smart Prepaid Meters, Power Stove, Hatchbox, Pick-Up vehicle, Power Storage, Car Battery, Laptop, CCTV, Solar Street Lamp, Solar Wall Light, Electric Tricycle, Mobile Science kit, among others.