FG to design performance indicators for ministers

The Federal Government on Thursday said it was designing performance indicators for all ministers in the current administration.This, it said, would enable it assess the ministers contributions to the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.The Special Adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof Sylvester Monye, disclosed this in Abuja at a round-table discussion on the transformation agenda.A performance contract is an agreement between the government and a public agency, which establishes general goals for such agency.It sets targets for measuring performance and provides incentives for achieving such targets.It is also an instrument for controlling the outcomes of the work of public agencies rather than on processes.Performance contract is currently being implemented in the United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia, New Zealand, India, Ghana and Kenya.Explaining the need for the indicators, Monye said, "We are developing simple and straightforward measures to assess whether we are indeed achieving those outcomes or not."In this regard, we are designing performance contracts between the President and the ministers. "The rationale for the performance contract policy is the failure of government to deliver on the expectations of the people, using the old system of management in the public service, which focuses on compliance with processes rather than results."Under the old scenario, Monye said government officials were confronted with multiple principals and goals that were often conflicting, with the implication being that government officials did not know what was expected of them."In many cases, government officials feel they are not responsible for results and thus do not accept the responsibility," he added.'Monye said that given the enormity of the responsibilities placed on the current administration, it could no longer tolerate lapses on the part of any official.He said, "Governments priorities, therefore, are to strengthen and stimulate the performance of government machinery in a relentless effort to ensure that its programmes yield the desired outcome."This will necessitate that we change the way government works by consistently assessing the performance, while promoting accountability on the part of those charged with the responsibility to deliver."
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