14th November, 2020
Sunny Uwanuakwa, a retired permanent secretary, has urged Federal Government agencies to build strong institutions to improve ease of doing business in the country.
Uwanuakwa made the call during his inauguration as chairman of a five -man independent committee of distinguished Nigerians
The committee was set up by the Director-General SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, to review its management practices aimed at strengthening the organisation for improved service delivery.
Uwanuakwa, in a statement, tasked chief executive officers of government agencies to build strong institutions to gear the nation towards improved economic development.
Responding to the new appointment, Uwanuakwa said it was a novel approach by the DG of SON towards realising his vision for the standards body.
“We will hit the ground running and members of this committee will devote their time and passion to the assignment with a view to delivering on the terms of reference within the time frame given,” he pledged.
Salim described the occasion as historic and going against the norms in an attempt to build strong processes for the organisation that would outlive its various chief executives’ tenures.
The SON boss mandated the committee to help examine the Standards body structure, processes and practices with a view to providing a template to address operational, service delivery and staff welfare challenges.
Salim also charged the committee to entrench equity and fairness as well as provide greater opportunities for staff to better contribute to attainment of organisational goals.
He further enumerated the committee’s terms of reference to include control and coordination, communication and effectiveness, manpower dispositions and manning levels.
Others, the DG said, are recruitment, postings and transfers as well as public perception of the organisation and its services, among others.
The Director-General stated that the committee members were carefully selected given their rich pedigrees and experiences in the public sector and the management’s belief in their competence and ability to contribute to the growth of SON.
He said that departmental presentations containing activities, achievements, challenges and suggestions obtained from interactions with directors, heads of departments and relevant portions of the handover notes by the last management would be available to the committee.
Salim enjoined the committee to invite additional inputs, presentations, clarifications or opinions from members of the SON management and the staff unions as it might deem necessary.
“Arrangements have been made for the committee to visit the organisation’s major operational offices in Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kano to feel the pulse of the staff and have a broader view of the organisation,” he said.
Salim stressed that the committee had four weeks from the date of inauguration to submit its interim report and was expected to submit its final report before the end of the year.
Other members of the committee were, Dr Rukayyatu Abdulkareem Gurin, Senior Lecturer, BAZE University, Abuja,
Mr Kabir Wudil, former Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff to the President, Mashood Oluku Lawal, retired Director, Federal Ministry of Health and a former member of the SON Governing Council and the SON Director, Human Resources Management, Abdulkadir Usman, the facilitator.
NAN
