This article provides a timely and constructive contribution to discussions on ministerial nominees and seeks to move the conversation forward to, ministerial performance.

In the past few weeks, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been involved in one of its most consequential constitutional responsibilities. That of providing “advise and consent” to the President on ministerial nominees, in order to form a cabinet. The policy choices and actions of ministers will affect Nigerians in profound ways.

While ministers serve at “the pleasure of the president”, their performance should serve public interest within the understanding of national interest. This exposes an important and related point. Whether we are subjecting political parties, manifestos, politicians and candidates of political parties, election umpires, and policies to enough scrutiny, in their journey to entrusted political power.

Given that what ministers do and say will affect “bread and butter issues” in every home, most Nigerians expect that ministerial nominees have the capacity and can ‘deliver’. Also, our country is very far behind other similarly developing countries. We have no time and resources to waste. Nigerians, therefore, expect the highest standards of behaviour and performance, of ministers.

It is the constitutional right of the President to select members of his cabinet. But, it is also the constitutional role of the Senate to provide “advise and consent” on ministerial nominees. The constitutional role of the Senate in this regard ought to be a rigorous process to ensure that ministerial nominees are not only capable but are patriotic Nigerians. That the list of ministerial nominees shows enough diversity. That the nominees should be Nigerians who can relate to the day-to-day needs of ordinary Nigerians.

This has not always been the experience in Nigeria. Indeed, many Nigerians entrusted with power and positions of responsibility have exploited our weak institutions and systems and abused entrusted authority for personal gain. In so doing, they have been part of the problem.

I have heard some Nigerians complain about portfolios not included in the list of ministerial nominees. Other Nigerians have complained about poor representation of women and no youth representation. Even more, are concerned about lack of scrutiny of the worldview of nominees and their ideological commitments which would influence their policy preferences. Also important are records of how Senators vote on issues so that Nigerians can hold them accountable subsequently.

These are all valid concerns for consideration, so that we can strengthen our institutions to provide safeguards. It is all about rigour. About logical processes driving high performance that we can explain. Yes, the success of government and our country should happen by design.

Our economy is still very inefficient. The productivity gap is very wide. Development indices are some of the worse in the world. This negative data presents the opportunity for structural changes. The actions of ministers working in liaison with the National Assembly (NASS) matter to industrial sectors driving economic activities for development.

Their actions will determine access (availability and affordability), to healthcare at the point of need, food and nutrition, skills-based education and training, decent housing and sanitation, safe and comfortable public transportation, to mention a few. What is at stake is how to unlock diverse value and supply chains to meet the growing demand of a large population.

If we can enable Nigerians to produce in Nigeria and buy the goods and services that over 200 million Nigerians need (with inputs, processes and outputs that are mostly denominated in Naira) we can create millions of decent tax-paying jobs, transform our labour and financial markets and grow an inclusive and attractive economy. This should be easy. But even if this was hard, it should be what inspires us.

There are many bottlenecks and constraints in our economy that limit us. We need to expand the opportunity space to put the creative talents, innovation, energy and enterprise of young Nigerians to work in our economy. Keeping our young, dynamic population productively active and busy should be the most important policy consideration for this and future governments.

It will reduce insecurity and corruption and grow the economy for all. It is ‘the unique’ advantage that we must develop. Built on strong fundamentals.

But, this would require the right strategy mix to resolve supply-side and demand-side issues. A mix of behaviour and attitude of high performance, the right legal and policy environments, and the right resource complement. In particular, high performing behaviour and well-informed attitude of ministers would push for the right policy environment. This would increase the likelihood of government investments and central bank interventions producing the desired outcomes of inclusive economic growth and development.

What kind of policy environments do we need?

An environment that strengthens and uses data to organise our country and its markets; and
An environment that is clear and consistent, and so will build confidence.

High confidence in our economy would attract the right investments into, our country, that we can sustain for a long time.

Because the performance of ministers is such a vital determinant of governance success, the President and Nigerians should influence the behaviour and attitude of ministers. Below are some suggestions and tools in this regard that the President might consider.

Presidential influence for high ministerial performance:

The President may consider mandating ministers to submit a report in the first 2 weeks of their inauguration, on the ministry assigned (ground zero), including a proposed 6-months plan of action.
The President may consider commissioning a Policy Intelligence and Integration Unit (PIIU) as a presidential national observatory. The PIIU will report directly to the President. This unit will help track constraints and/or enablers in the economy in coordination with ministers, the NASS and state governments.
The President may consider commissioning the development of a secure App (may be managed by the PIIU) to pull feedback on ministerial performance from Nigerians, on issues that the President consider most important. The App could also monitor corruption perception. It could be launched through a tech-competition that involves young Nigerians in the design and development of algorithms, for the purpose of social marketing and people ownership.

(Development Partners would want to invest for results in PIIU and the App)

The President may consider defining and assigning roles to each minister where there are two ministers in a ministry to reduce potential conflicts.
The President may consider ordering an online portal for all federal government job advertisements. Also, to mandate ministers to include feedback tools (data analysed and reported online regularly) on the social and the economic impact of policies, activities, and services where applicable, on the websites of ministries.

Presidential tools to improve ministerial performance:

The tools contributed below are simple to administer and may be modified (depending on the ministry) for regular (monthly or quarterly) monitoring and appraisal of the performance of ministers, by the President (in addition to other meetings), in relation to applicable industrial sector(s). These instruments would enable the presidency and ministers transition into a diagnostic and systematic approach to managing the business of state for results. The presidency and ministers would speak to the issues with more clarity and authority.

Please observe that the tools are without applicable notes due to limited space.

Tool 1: Resolving barriers or bottlenecks or constraints, to private businesses

#	Describe the barriers or bottlenecks or constraints, identified	What has been done at ministerial level, and with stakeholders	What is required of the NASS	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 2: Resolving barriers or bottlenecks or constraints to the delivery of public services

#	Describe barriers or bottlenecks or constraints, identified	What has been done at ministerial level, and with stakeholders	What is required of the NASS	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 3: The number of new [real] businesses formed as a result of resolving barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, and new business opportunities created in the last quarter

#	Describe the new business opportunities	Describe barriers or bottlenecks or constraints, identified and resolved	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 4: Existing or new public services improved as a result of resolving barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, and new service opportunities freed in the last quarter

#	List the public services and describe or quantify improvement as appropriate	Describe barriers or bottlenecks or constraints, identified and resolved	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 5: How many jobs have the ‘new’ private businesses that you enabled, created (verifiable and by job categories) within the last 6 months. Or, based on your estimation, project how many jobs the ‘new’ businesses would create in the next 12 months?

#	Describe barriers or bottlenecks or constraints, identified and resolved	Provide some information on types of jobs created and share your assumptions	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 6: How many jobs have the ‘old’ businesses (existed before your recent appointment) created (verifiable and by job categories) within the last 6 months, as a result of your actions that led to improved business confidence?

#	Describe barriers or bottlenecks or constraints, identified and resolved	Provide some information on types of jobs created and share your assumptions	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 7: By working particularly with ministries of budget and planning, finance, and national bureau of statistics, based on informed estimates, how much would the reforms that frees up barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, and creates opportunities for business, cost existing revenue to the government in year 1, year 2, and year 3?

Year	Estimated amount and percent	Your underlying assumptions	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 8: As a result of reforms that free up barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, and creates opportunities for business, that you led in liaison with the NASS, provided informed estimate (with the advice and support of particularly the ministries of budget and planning, finance, and national bureau of statistics) in business to business trade/transactions within year 1, year 2, and year 3 (visible/verifiable)?

Year	Estimated amount and percent	Your underlying assumptions	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 9: As a result of reforms that free up barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, and creates opportunities for business, that you led in liaison with the NASS, provided informed estimate (with the advice and support of particularly the ministries of budget and planning, finance, and national bureau of statistics) in business-to-customers, transactions within year 1, year 2, and year 3 (visible/verifiable)?

Year	Estimated amount and percent	Your underlying assumptions	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 10: As a result of reforms that free up barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, and creates opportunities for business, that you led in liaison with the NASS, provided informed estimate (with the advice and support of particularly the ministries of budget and planning, finance, and national bureau of statistics) in business-to-government transactions within year 1, year 2, and year 3 (visible/verifiable)?

Year	Estimated amount and percent	Your underlying assumptions	Information and request of the presidency
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Tool 11: By working particularly with the ministries of budget and planning, finance, and national bureau of statistics, based on informed estimates on the reforms that free up opportunities from relieving the barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, how much revenue to government will be generated from new opportunities in 3 years and in 5 years?

Year	Estimated amount and percent	Your underlying assumptions	Information and request of Mr. President
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Tool 12: By working particularly with the ministries of budget and planning, finance, and national bureau of statistics, based on informed estimates on the reforms that free up opportunities from relieving the barriers/bottlenecks/constraints, what would the contribution of the sector(s) or subsector(s) that the minister leads, to the economy in numbers and percentages in 3 years and in 5 years?

Year	Estimated amount and percent	Your underlying assumptions	Information and request of Mr. President
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Our country is facing huge challenges. All of us are affected. Appraising the performance of ministers can be a rich source of helpful data Nigerians, the presidency and ministers. It is an opportunity (if undertaken in a systematic, visible and transparent way) to achieve the intention of catalysing a culture of high performance in the Civil Service. The Civil Service will invest more in outcomes and impact. Nigerians will be better served.

State governors may also adapt these suggestions and tools. States and local governments are important units of delivery of economic opportunities and development. States can forge successful partnerships with the federal government in this regard.

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