The presidency and the National Institute of Policies are to partner with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Plateau, to review and harmonise inter-sectoral policies to enhance effective service delivery.

The partnership is in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and others.

The Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination to President Bola Tinubu, Hadiza Bala-Usman, stated this at the meeting of the Committee for the Review and Harmonisation of Sectoral Policies in Abuja.

Ms Bala-Usman, who is also the chairman of the committee, said that the team comprised representatives from NIPSS, the Office of the Vice President, SGF and others.

She noted that, in view of the absence of interrelationships across sectoral policies, the federal government deemed it fit to constitute the team.

“This team or committee is expected to look at how sectoral policies would be reviewed and coordinated to enhance collaboration across the sectors. We have noted with concern that some outdated policies are still within our sector and the need for us to engage with respective ministries, departments and agencies and relevant stakeholders. The aim of the engagement is to come up with current policy deployment that speaks to the reality of what is needed to achieve our eight presidential priorities.

“So we are going to lean on subject matter experts across the sectors; we are going to work with respective ministries and heads of agencies. This is to see what needs to be done to enhance our policy deployment across sectors and ministries of the federal government to enhance effective service delivery,” Ms Bala-Usman said.

She further said that the committee was working on a work plan, adding that it was an assignment that would take 12 to 18 weeks to wrap up on priority for sectoral policies being updated.

She said that the committee had already identified a few MDAs with outdated policies and was working with them to upgrade and improve on them.

According to her, the work the committee is doing will not stop or negatively affect the activities of any sectoral ministries, departments or agencies.

Also speaking, the director-general of NIPSS, Ayo Omotayo, said the composition of the committee indicated that no organisation wants to work in silos any more.

“One thing I want to assure everyone is that the NIPSS and presidency, together with other collaborative agencies, will deliver to the nation a workable plan, development and implementation framework. This will be done in such a way that policies in Nigeria will no longer contradict themselves. We will ensure the resolution of cross-sectoral issues that have contradictions in our policies,” Mr Omotayo said.

In attendance was the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Legal, Research and Compliance in the Office of the Vice President, Bashir Maiduguri, among many others. 

(NAN)