The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Thursday approached the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) to strengthen its reforms unit for effective service delivery in line with the Federal Government’s plan.
Aisha Jidda, Director, Reform Coordination and Strategic Management, Blue Economy, NIMASA, said this when she paid a courtesy visit on BPSR with her team in Abuja.
She said that she was posted newly to the department and, therefore, was seeking ways to contribute her quota to the development of the unit to leave it better than she met it.
“When I was posted to reform coordination two months ago; you know in government where ever you are, you have to make an impact.
“So the first purpose why we are here is to familiarise with the requirements, initiatives and directives of BPSR that are to be implemented by the agency.
“NIMASA as a government agency by its Act is responsible for the NIMASA Act, Merchant Shipping Act, Cabotage Act and the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act.
“Whilst other departments and units have their set roles, functions, activities and necessary guidance, we don’t have that codified in the Reform Coordination Unit of NIMASA.
“A schedule of duty was given to me that was used by the unit before I came. So I challenged my staff that in every schedule of duty let’s break it down into task that we can carry out.
“This is because I see this reform coordination as an innovation that should not be left to people to decide how they are going to do things.
“There must be guidelines on how to do A, how to do B, how to do C and having stayed there so far, I believe it is a place whereby whoever is the chief executive can use to drive impact in addition to what the government is doing,” she said.
Jidda said the essence of the visit was for BPSR, being the government unit set up to drive this agenda, to help NIMASA drive its agenda, make an impact, so that with time, it would be properly situated or institutionalised.
She said that the idea of the visit was to also get acquainted with BPSR and to be guided on reforms.
The Director-General of BPSR, Dasuki Arabi commended the NIMASA team for the visit and pledged his commitment to guiding the agency.
Arabi said part of the statutory mandate of the Bureau was to assist to build administrative and institutional capacity and to strengthen public institutions for effective implementation of government’s policies and programmes.
He said that BPSR’s duty was to also ensure the repositioning of Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for efficiency and better service delivery.
“Following the visit, we suggested some reform initiatives that are necessary for NIMASA to take to improve the operations of the department and promised to support your organisation to achieve its mandate and reform policies through practical and on hand support.
“In fulfilment of this promise, the bureau shared some of the reforms publications of the organisation. Also the Chief Executive Officer of NIMASA was featured in one of our flagship programmes ‘Lunchtime Seminar’.
“This is to discuss activities in NIMASA and most recently, the BPSR deployed the self-assessment tool in NIMASA, an exercise aimed at determining the administrative health status of your organisation for better repositioning and effective service delivery,” he said.
According to him, the visit was a welcomed development as the need for reforms of departments and public organisations cannot be overemphasised as it remains a platform to initiate, coordinate and monitor reform programmes and policies around the organisation.
He said that it also reinforced the principles of best practices and global standards toward effective service delivery. nan
