The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has trained its staff on the usage of a new tool, an automated self-assessment tool (SAT), in compliance with the Federal Government’s directive to adopt the new system for gauging staff performance.
Speaking at the one-day training programme in Abuja, the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, represented by the director, special duties, Mrs. Fausat Lawal, said that the tool designed by the Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR) will enable ministries and agencies assess their strengths and weaknesses and, subsequently, employ the outcome of the self-evaluation as a management tool to create continuous improvement in the service.
He explained that the exercise was not only in compliance with the government’s directive but also expected to be used to set priority for an action plan to further reposition the ministry for optimal performance.
The permanent secretary, therefore, urged the management and staff of the ministry selected for the training to maximally cooperate with the BPSR team for the success of the initiative.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, the BPSR’s director-general, Mr. Dasuki Arabi, represented by the head, strategy innovation and research department, Mrs. Mercy Okon, said SAT is a web-based tool designed to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation to determine areas that need further strengthening.
Arabi explained that it is used to assess or diagnose the current health of an organisation, examine its strengths and weaknesses to ascertain its performance.
“The self-assessment tool contains 100 statements of good practices, with a rating scale which will result in sections and result charts and priority areas for action planning,” he stated.
He added that the exercise is just to assist the organisation’s performance and promote service delivery while urging the participants to be open-minded in their responses.
A statement by the ministry’s director of information signed by Olatunji Susan, said SAT methodology constitute three focal groups structured into directorate, middle and junior cadre officers and each were taken through the assessment exercise.
