By Monday Uwagwu

Recently, the Delta State Government, under the watch of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, held a far-reaching retreat for sundry stakeholders in the echelon of public administration in the state. The retreat had a galactic ensemble of relevant stakeholders including civil commissioners, the Head of Service, Permanent Secretaries in the state and heads of extra-ministerial agencies and departments of the state.

The Oborevwori retreat, aptly themed “Delivering The MORE Agenda for Advancing Delta: Strategies Enablers,” was important in many ways.

In the first place, the retreat remains the most comprehensive in the annals of the state, on account of the big spectrum of stakeholders involved, the huge number of attendees and the various subthemes of the main subject handled as well as the fact that for the first time in the history of the state, heads of state media houses — The Pointer, Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS), Asaba and the Delta Broadcasting Service, Warri were fully involved.

The presence of the heads of the state-run mass media at the retreat shows the depth of planning and commendable desire of the Oborevwori administration to give vent to the industry tradition of needful reliance on the mass media for veritable feedback, one of the critical necessities for the success of any development initiative, be it at the level of the government or the community.

Overall, the retreat enabled the participants-who are critical stakeholders in the development of the state-to have a thorough grasp of the import of the MORE Agenda and how, in the lead up and other processes, they have to factor their ministries, departments and agencies into the generic efforts of the government to ensure the cost-efficient realization of its set development goals.

A second interesting and important thing about the retreat is the fact that not only was it declared open by the governor himself, but also had in attendance, the eminent presence of the Governor of Edo, Delta’s twin sister state, Godwin Obaseki , who, at the occasion, lauded his host governor for the event which, he said, bore thematic resemblance to the series of events that birthed the now famous Alaghodaro Programme of his administration.

Then, there is the third element of importance of the retreat which revolves around aligning all of the officialprocesses and procedures of the various stakeholders to the critically important philosophy underpinning the MORE Agenda, which, in net, is the drive for excellence in the delivery of cost- efficient services to Deltans. This drive, for effect, is pegged on the guiding principle of governance based on due process, result orientation and excellence- inclination.

However, it is on the fourth peg of importance that the retreat actually finds activism much more than at anywhere else; this has to do with the adequate slant on accountability as the government moves to distill the MORE agenda into deliverables that are measurable, trackable and reportable.

Governor Oborevwori captured this succinctly at the occasion for the formal opening of the retreat, when, inter alia, he said, “…the strategic imperatives of the MORE agenda have now been distilled into derivables that can be measured, tracked and reported. These key performance indicators will enable us to measure our progress as an administration, based on established timelines and benchmarks for success. This will, in turn, enable efficiency of government, enhance performance, hold the MDAs accountable and promote judicious utilization of resources….A key component of our policy thrust is the organization of a credible feedback mechanism, which I harped on during the swearing in of Commissioners in August this year. For us to achieve our stated goals, MDAs must constantly monitor the progress of projects under their jurisdiction and formulate a mechanism for feedback and evaluation.’’

To appropriately drive home the overall place of accountability with regard to practical performance, Oborevwori came down precisely on part of the strategies to ensure that stakeholders stay the course and deliver quality service to Deltans, based on set goals and benchmarks-the performance bond.

He said, “As evidenced from the projects that we have so far completed and embarked upon, this administration is process-driven, result-oriented and excellence-inclined. Indeed, we are poised to ADVANCE the state into an era that will accelerate the realization of its full potentials through the MORE agenda.

Towards this end, the Commissioners are expected to sign a Performance Bond at the end of this retreat. This is not meant to scare anybody. It is to serve as a motivation to stay focused on the deliverables that have been established. However, the Performance Bond shall be adjusted accordingly where the need arises, especially if there is a shortfall in resources available to any ministry.’’

The introduction of the Performance Bond-as announced by the governor at the retreat, is a clearly significant turning point in the history of the state because it is the first time that any administration in the state-elected, appointed (as in military era) or based on judicial pronouncement-would publicly introduce it as a strategy for the assessment of the attainments on set goals.

It, thus, becomes the inviolable breastplate for commissioners who are expected to regularly reference it to gauge their efforts and the results attained against set goals and targets.

Yet, that is not all.For the administration of Oborevwori, the introduction of the Performance Bond represents, in part, the contract between him and his aides, especially commissioners, and also a core element of the overall social contract between him and the electorate in the state following his victory in the governorship poll earlier this year. By vicariously signing up to the bond, both the governor and his administration have opened a positive new vista for the ultimate public assessment of their overall performance, based on the targets inherent in the bond and as spelt out under the deliverables under the MORE agenda.

This development depicts not only commitment but also the innate desire to take responsibility for whatever the judgment of the public would ultimately be at the end of the day. In far more ways than one, this is good news because, only men of conviction chest out for judgment, and only the safe can be venturesome.

The OBOREVWORI example is not just for the present; it will be a positive reference point in future as subsequent administrations will be challenged on the score of the policy and its critical import. Aside all others, it will, on sustenance, deepen our democracy and exponentially enhance the scope of transparency and accountability, which are critical requirements for people- inclined administrations.

Uwagwu is the retired General Manager of the Delta Printing and Publishing Company Limited (DPPCL), publishers of the Pointer Newspapers.

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