The Ministry of Interior culminated its two-day performance retreat on Tuesday with the formal signing of performance contracts between the Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, and Heads of the Ministry’s Agencies.
The retreat, which began on Monday, 28 October 2024 in Abuja under the theme, “United Front for a Secure Nation and Future,” emphasised the Ministry’s core mandate of ensuring security, safety, and effective service delivery.
This Performance Contract Signing initiative underpins the Ministry’s commitment to measurable, results-driven service aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
In a media interview following the Performance Contract Signing on Tuesday, Dr. Tunji-Ojo said that the exercise was not a matter of optics but of ensuring a meaningful impact on Nigeria’s security landscape.
“This initiative is about the effect on Nigerians and on Nigeria as a whole,” the Minister stated. “Our Ministry signed a performance contract with Mr. President last year, and after executing that for a year, it’s time to extend this level of accountability to each agency. With quarterly appraisals, every agency now has clear, measurable deliverables.”
“We want to be able to appraise ourselves. We want to be able to set targets for ourselves because we understand that this is not an era to give Nigerians excuses.
“There is an agenda; the Renewed Hope Agenda. And this agenda must be implemented, and Nigerians must see that this agenda is actually working. So what we are doing today is to be able to cascade and know that leadership is a pyramid. No matter who you are at the top, you can only be as strong as the base,” the Minister stressed.
The Minister reiterated that the performance contract signed aligns his role directly with President Tinubu’s mandate, emphasising that the President had made it clear: “your performance will determine your relevance in the system”.
He explained that his appointment was to ensure that the Renewed Hope Agenda has an expression through the Ministry of Interior, adding that every agency head and staff member has a mandate to fulfill.
According to the Minister, this is a performance-driven regime, one that moves beyond “business as usual” toward an extraordinary commitment to “business unusual”. He concluded by affirming that the Ministry had resolved not to fail the President, nor to disappoint Nigerians, but to execute the President’s agenda with utmost dedication and integrity.
In preparation for this milestone, the Ministry of Interior organised a Performance Management System (PMS) workshop two weeks ago in collaboration with Zimedy Services Limited. The workshop equipped Directors and Agency Heads with essential skills to implement a robust PMS framework, providing the tools to effectively monitor and assess progress against targets.
The Permanent Secretary, Dr. Ajani, in her closing remarks, reinforced the importance of this commitment. She noted, “With today’s contract signing, every member of this Ministry has a defined role in delivering our promises to the Nigerian people. The work has only just begun, and we are all committed to achieving measurable improvements across every sector we oversee.”
Heads of Agencies under the Ministry also pledged to uphold these standards and actively contribute to the Ministry’s overarching goal of transforming the Ministry’s services for a safer and more secure Nigeria.