As with any democracy, citizens vote to authorise leaders in a social contract, trusting those we elect with our welfare, in the hope they will do the job we’ve asked them to do.
On Friday, November 3, 2023, President Bola Tinubu took a bold step to implement (in his own words) the agenda upon which he gained a mandate, by delegating his authority to his Ministers. While admitting he alone (not the electorates) knew the Ministers, he promised to hold them to the standard promised to Nigerians. Saying:
“If you are performing, there is nothing to fear. If you missed the objective, we review, if no performance, you leave us. No one is an island, and the buck stops on my desk.
Subsequently, all ministerial appointees in the cabinet signed a performance bond that Friday, with expectations of its leverage to impact the lives of Nigerians within the shortest possible time.
The Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development (HMA &AD) subsequently cascaded and replicated this bond signing program in all Aviation Agencies.
The Citizens Delivery Coordinating Unit(CDCU) released results delivery tracker( https://app.cdcu.gov.ng/) on 08th April 2024 .The aim was to provide an online means to enable Nigerians hold Government accountable to its promise. A few days ago we conducted a review on the set objectives for the HMA & AD .
The review team discovered shocking instances of glaring mismatch between objectives and their Key Performance Indicators(KPI’s). This expected casting serious doubts on the accuracy of the metrics as evidence of delivering on the President’s promise ” to move us forward in realization of our best aspirations for Nigerians”.
So what happens when the measures/KPI’s are wrong ab initio? The Presidential consequences management options did not foresee this unlikely scenario. It’s equally shocking that given the importance and investments committed,the agency and Ministry could miss this very critical factor until now.
The CDCU’s tracker is a management by objective model which uses a set of quantifiable or objective standards against which it measures the performance of Government/Ministries.
The tracker contains a list of 8 presidential priorities, with Aviation contributing only in enhancing infrastructure and Transportation as enablers of Growth, through its Four deliverables, listed below:
- Ensure strict compliance with safety regulations to achieve continuous upward movement of Nigeria’s rating by ICAO
- Accelerate the completion of the following aviation infrastructure to promote sectoral growth
- Support the growth and sustenance of local airline business to attain the highest international standards in the aviation industry
- Ensure access to terminal buildings by persons with disabilities
A brief review of the Aviation scorecard(see attached table,noting the red markings/lettering ) reveals some worrying goal setting dysfunctions that strikes at the core of trust, alignment, transparency and accountability the tracker should engender.
Below is a brief highlight of some the observed mismatches between Objectives and KPIs
- To Ensure strict compliance with safety regulations targets set for accurate Meteorological reports was 85% .This is 15% below the 100% minimum safety standard required for the safe dispatch of any flight
- To achieve the objective of accelerating the completion of stated aviation infrastructure to promote sectoral growth the aim is to facilitate the lease of four aircraft for local operators by the ALC (Aircraft Leasing Company). However, this figure is abysmally low given the promise to lease a minimum of eight aircraft in its first year of operation given after Federal Economic Council approval in May 2023.
- To support the growth and sustenance of local airline business to attain the highest international standards, they set measure after measure to deliver worsening results for Flight cancellations, delays and the number of passengers that will be negatively impacted by these disruptions.This means that success for the ministry is equivalent to poorer performance by the airlines to their passengers. The height of the incongruity is we set a zero target for the application of sanction to airlines or organizations directly responsible for this worsening performance. Additionally, a pass standard of 20% was set for the provision of the Forex requirements of local operators. Equally puzzling was the saddling of the HMA & AD with this onerous responsibility despite a lack of direct control over the operations of the Autonomous Central Bank of Nigeria.
- To demonstrate the importance of ensuring access to terminal buildings for persons with disabilities, they dedicated a whole objective area to it, but then set a target for the number of accessibility aids at Zero! Why bother
We wonder in hindsight if we would need to discuss inexcusable target mismatches, if the relevant parties had only heeded the admonishments from Mr President at the launch of this process?. ( i.e. to be intellectually inquisitive, importance of obligations to restore public faith and the importance of data to management).The three statements bears repeating:
I assure you will have a free hand. you must be intellectually inquisitive to ask how? Why? When? and why it must be immediate,”..https://www.
“Data is the lifeblood of effective governance. It enables us to understand the challenges we face so that we can design and implement effective solutions as well as monitor and evaluate our progress. Without data, we are flying blind.”
“Your highest obligation is to restore public faith in government so that our people can once again believe that the right hands in government can be a positive force for transformation and a vehicle for the collective progress of this country.”
The CDCU and the Aviation Ministry must immediately remedy this anomaly which raises questions about the seriousness of the whole programme. I wish them good luck in their uphill task to rescue us from the clear and present danger.(paraphrased in the words of Michelangelo Buonarotti thus:)
Our greatest danger is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, or
that it is too low and we hit it, but below benchmark and set us back and set us up for failure.
Babatunde Adeniji, an aviation management consultant, assists 🛍 organizations & professionals👮 in ✈️aviation/related industries to 📈 improve performance-efficiency, effectiveness and economics
through:
🗣Advisory & Project solutions
👨🏫Managed Services
📚 📖Research, Learning & Speaking interventions.
