Aregbesola Charges NSCDC, FFS, Others On Public Perception

Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola, has asked agencies under his ministry to take public perception management more seriously.

The minister also applauded the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and other agencies under his watch for their performances.

Speaking Friday in Abuja at the quarterly review meeting of the ministry of interior and its agencies, Aregbesola said the need to review the overall quarterly performance of the ministry against the agreed targets and to provide a forum for strategic planning, discussions and policy recommendations, among others should be prioritised.

“What you have done is important, but what you get the public to see and believe about the Ministry and your services is of greater importance. If a user of your service is dissatisfied, that is negative publicity, to start with.

Any act of corruption, incompetence or failure to provide excellent service amount to bad publicity. Public communication therefore beginswith plugging these loopholes. This should be followed by deliberate rigorous campaign to reel out the achievements of the ministries and the services across all media platforms and maintain good relationship with the media. Strategic communication and reputation management should therefore receive greater attention,” he said.

While highlighting major achievements of the agencies under him, the minister said: “The nine priority areas of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari include stabilizing the macro economy, increase agricultural productivity and food security, ensure energy sufficiency, improve transportation and other infrastructure, drive industrialization, improve health, education and productivity of Nigerians, enhance social inclusion by scaling up social investments, fight corruption and improve governance and provide security for all citizens and foreigners alike.

“The meeting is necessary to ensure that the Ministry and its Services/Agencies track its Deliverables and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) introduced by the delivery unit of the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in order to review the overall performance of ministries, Departments andAgencies against ministerial mandates and federal government priority areas.

​“In addition, you may recall that the Second Ministerial Strategy Retreat held at Ilorin, Kwara State in December, 2021, where a number of priority projects/programmes in both quick wins, short term and long term were identified to be used for the ministry’s Strategy Plans. It is therefore imperative that the quarterly performance review meeting be held to provide a forum for the ministry and its services/agency to interact with a view of realizing the mandates assigned to the ministry.

​“I must say that our services have improved tremendously and quite noticeably too, with presentation of our performance at the second ministerial retreat organized by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation which was applauded and well received.”

Source: Blueprint