Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Saturday, said that the Ministry of Interior and its agencies should target 100% Performance rating, noting that the Ministry moved last year from 62% rating to the current 85% rating.
He further stated that the present reforms were aimed at building institutions that would endure and outlive his tenure.
The Minister spoke during the closing ceremony of the performance bond signing, which was the climax of a 3-Day mid-term tenure/2025 Sectoral Performance retreat of the Ministry and its agencies, held at the Zuma Rock Resort, Suleja, Niger State.
His words: ” Can we see the difference in the Ministry of Interior and its agencies in the last one year? Yes, when we did the last retreat, we were 62%. We moved to 85%.
“And what we want to do is to cascade such that what you see in the ministry in terms of excellence is what you will see in Civil Defense, it’s what you will see at the level of Immigration Service, it’s what you will see at the level of Correctional Service or fire service.
“Everywhere you will see the same level of excellence, like I said two days ago, honestly speaking, it is not my dream to build a Ministry of Interior that will only do well under my leadership.
“My dream is to be able to build a ministry to the glory of God that will be able to do well even without me, and that is what we call institution, build institutions. We don’t want a ministry that will be built around a strong person.”
He added, “So by the next time we’ll be holding this, I want to see our results. As I said to you, we are agents of perfection and let us deliver. Let Nigerians feel our impact. Let’s continue to make people smile. Let’s continue to be a reason why husbands will look at their wives and smile.”
The performance bonds were signed with the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Prof. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, the Comptroller General of the Federal Fire Service, Olumode Samuel Adeyemi, and the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Bisoye Coker-Odusote. The bond with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) will be signed at a later date when the Comptroller General is available.
Speaking after the signing, Dr. Tunji-Ojo charged the CEOs to deliver on the contracts and help President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration actualize its renewed hope agenda.
While applauding the CEOs on their previous performance, the Minister said the aim is to replicate the Ministry’s excellence in all its Agencies.
“What we want to do is to cascade such that what you see in the Ministry in term of excellence is what you will see in Civil Defense, is what you will see at the level of Immigration Service, is what you will see at the level of Correctional Service or Fire Service, and see in everywhere”, he emphasized.
The Minister pledged to give the Agencies his unalloyed support in order to achieve the expected performance.
Tunji-Ojo further disclosed that his dream is to build a Ministry that will outlive his time as the Minister, saying this can only be achieved by building institutions.
He commended the positive roles the Ministry’s Agencies have played recently in national development, adding that the Nigerian Correctional Service is becoming a transformational, rehabilitatory, and reformatory centres.
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