Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged heads of government agencies to be guided by the extant provisions that established their organisations. The Vice President spoke at the weekend in Abuja during a one-day retreat held by the State House management and heads of government agencies under its supervision ahead of the issuance of the call circular for the commencement of next year’s budget. Declaring the retreat open, shettima, who was represented by Deputy Chief of Staff, Senator Ibrahim Hadeija, emphasised the importance of adhering to the set objectives initiated by the State House management, particularly in institutionalising e-governance to improve operations. The Vice President hailed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, for participating in the retreat and making an insightful presentation, titled: Delineation of Roles and Functions Between the Management and the Agency and Its Supervising Entity: A Prerequisite for Good Relationship and Effective Delivery of Mandate. “This is a very important retreat to remind senior civil servants, new appointees and heads of agencies about the civil service regulations. “These regulations can be quite tedious, and the Permanent Secretary, State House, was right when he said some of these issues will come back to his table. “I remember when I was in the Senate Public Accounts Committee, I have seen some faces here that we summoned to come and answer questions that arose from the Auditor-General’s report. “This underscores the importance of reminding ourselves of the procedural issues that have to be complied with in governance and administration,” he said. In an overview of the retreat, a permanent secretary, Olufunsho Adebiyi, explained that it was designed to foster collaboration and create synergy in the operations of the State House and agencies under its supervision. The permanent secretary also highlighted that with the recent approval of the new minimum wage by the President, the government will no longer tolerate massive recruitments into agencies without approval or waiver, as well as selective promotions. “We now have new public service rules that define when to promote, who is due for promotion, mode of promotion, procedure and conduct of promotion examinations and strict adherence to public service rules,” he said. Adebiyi said the retreat, the first of its kind under the Tinubu administration, also deliberated on the need for strict enforcement of government policies and sanctions for defaulting agencies. “The retreat apprised CEOs of government agencies on types of appointments into the public service, criteria and qualifications for these appointments, procedures for procurement process, budget preparation, and the monitoring and evaluation of government policies,” he added. The agencies whose establishing acts place them under the supervision of the State House include the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), Nigeria Agriculture and Land Development Agency (NALDA), Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President (OCEAP), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Others are: Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), National Centre for the Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism, National Council on Climate Change (NATCCC), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the National Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC). Post navigation Fed Govt intends to raise N190b in new bond auction House of Representatives demand action against 350 AMCON loan defaulters.
