The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru has charged Nigerian missions abroad to ensure that issuance of visas did?not last for more than 48 hours.
The minister made remark at?the signing of `Performance Contract’ with Heads of Nigerian Missions in the U. S at the Nigeria House in New York.
Prof. Ade Adefuye, Nigerian Ambassador to the U. S and Amb. Geoffrey Teneilabe, Consul-General in Atlanta, signed the contract.
The performance contract system is an innovative management practise intended to foster accountability, service delivery and cost-effectiveness in the conduct of governance in Nigeria.
Under the scheme, public servants are expected to be better focused on the discharge of assigned tasks with specific targets and timelines that can be measured against overall government policies and objectives.
Ashiru noted that the era of visa delays to investors and visitors, among others, to Nigeria was over.
“All heads of Nigerian Missions abroad would be required to enter into this Contract with me so that Nigerians in Diaspora can be better assured of improved service delivery in a manner that justifies the huge investment into the operations on Nigerian Missions abroad.
“Heads of Missions are to hold their individual officers accountable for the delivery of agreed outcome such as the number and timeliness of visa and passports issued,the periodicity and quality of reports that are rendered, among other deliverables.’’?
The minister said?the Contract would be tied to the performance of officers, saying that these would come into reckoning when appointments and promotions were?being considered in the future.
“I need not stress the imperative need for Heads of Missions and their officers to continually justify the trust reposed in them by Mr President on behalf of the Nigerian people.”
Ashiru,however, warned that any officer who is either unable or unwilling to live up to the highest standard of professionalism and efficient service delivery, would find it difficult to operate in the new environment that the ministry sought to create.
“For us in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is no longer the case to argue that our output is intangible and therefore hardly susceptible to performance evaluation.
“To change this paradigm, it is has been my determination to deploy foreign policy as an instrument of economic development in a manner that facilitates job creation and wealth for the Nigerian people.’’?
The minister said that the ministry’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI) have been developed in the template produced by the National Planning Commission.
Ashiru, however, listed the indicators to include protecting the interest of Nigerians abroad, promoting Nigeria’s economic interest abroad, improving the profile and image of Nigeria abroad.
Also?enhancing Nigeria’s representation and visibility in international organisations.
Other key indicators listed by the minister are enhancing Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa starting with the West Africa sub-region, promoting global peace and security and promoting a just world economic order.
According to him, these objectives have been further broken down into specifics of deliverable and outcomes in a manner that will hold every Mission accountable.
“Besides this template however, I have designed another set of template that is unique to the Ministry and its Missions abroad in a manner that complements the work of the National Planning Commission in this regard.
“ This supplementary template is intended to hold Heads of Missions accountable for the discharge of the mandate contained in their respective Stations Charters as never before
In his response on behalf of the Heads of Missions, Adefuye, thanked the minister for taking time out to allow them sign the contract which he described as an important aspect of their commitment to President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said that the missions were delighted when the issue of signing the performance contract was made known to them, stressing that it would provide a realistic and concrete measure of the holistic performance of the missions.
“ I want to say on behalf of my colleagues here, that for us in United States of America, we are very delighted that all the characters mentioned have been clearly identified and fulfilled by these missions.
“I want to say with all boldness that our missions in America have been in the forefront in the distribution and implementation of Mr President’s transformation agenda.’’
Adefuye said?that the missions had successfully executed programmes that had attracting direct foreign investment into Nigeria to fulfil the objectives of the President.
Adefuye, however, listed the Agric-business Investment Forum and Nigeria-U. S Infrastructure Conference among others as some of the events the missions had organised that attracted foreign investors to Nigeria.
He also said that the Nigeria- U. S Bi-national Commission had equally contributed immensely to the country.
Present at the event were Amb. Usman Sarki, Nigeria’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Mr Habib Habu, Consul General of Nigeria in New York. (NAN)