Agba said this on Monday at the opening of a five-day workshop on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the National Planning arm of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and national Planning in Abuja.
He also launched the SOP document produced by the Department of Reforms Coordination and Service Improvement under the leadership of Dr Anne Nzegwu.
According to the minister, “Institutional reforms are vital for success whether digital, cultural or organizational as successful institutional reforms will encourage greater investment inflows into our country so we can be in a position to overcome unemployment, poverty and promote the significant economic growth in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
“It is my firm belief that a systematic change management prevents many problems before they arise and also offers a method for dealing with them while minimizing the impact of the problems.”
He said that the launching and sensitization workshop on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was therefore important to “a successful re-engineering of the National Planning Arm of the Ministry to engender efficiency, quality output, increased productivity and uniformity of performance while reducing duplication, miscommunication and failure to comply with processes, procedures and regulations.
“This is not just a vague aspiration because with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), you can achieve the same results without sacrificing growth. SOPs provide the ethical and professional principles as well as step-by-step guidance on providing appropriate services.
“This will be especially important during the technical sessions of the ongoing Medium-Term National Development Plan that will commence from 2021-2025 and the Long-Term perspective plan, which is Agenda 2050.”
He said “the compendium (SOP) incorporates the perspective of proper working, training of personnel and favorable outcomes in every stream of our endeavors by providing and strengthening institutional structures and laying down clear response mechanisms, roles and responsibilities as well as the normative framework which underpins the whole subject of Standard Operating Procedures.
“The keystone value which imbues this effort is to ensure the SOPs are an essential prerequisite for any quality initiative because studies have shown that SOPs have significant potential to enable provider organizations to improve quality without increasing costs. SOP is therefore an important document in terms of quality measures and evaluation.”
The minister expressed the hope that the launch of the SOP and its successful implementation would usher in a new dawn in the reform drive of the Ministry and the public sector in general, adding “I have no doubt in my mind that this workshop will build the capacity of our staff to achieve the expected results.”
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