ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari has urged workers in the country to brace up for change in line with his administration’s policy direction.
Buhari gave the directive on Thursday, in Abuja, at the 15th National Productivity Day and conferment of National Productivity Order of Merit Award.
He directed the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to set up productivity desks to monitor workers’ contributions in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government.
He has also mandated the National Productivity Centre to liaise with the HoS to put up modalities for mainstreaming productivity into the consciousness of workers under the government employ.
The President who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Clement Illoh, said the directive was to awaken the consciousness of productivity in Nigerians, particularly as it aims at topping the world economy by the year 2020.
He said: “This occasion once again helps us to redirect our minds to the need to work harder and smarter to build a strong national economy. This ceremony, especially the conferment of the award, raises our hope of a brighter Nigeria.
“The hope of self-reliance and self-confidence that we are capable of accepting the challenges of nation building by practically demonstrating that given the appropriate opportunities we can be as efficient and effective as any group anywhere in the world”.
Commenting on the theme for this year’s event, “Role of Productivity in the Change Agenda,” he said current realities in Nigeria necessitated proactive measures by all stakeholders to change the tide.
“As you are all aware, this administration assumed office at a time when morale was at its lowest ebb at all strata of the Nigerian Society and the nation was functioning as a rudderless ship.
“There was clear evidence that the system was not working the way it should and the people had even lost confidence and hope in the Government,” he stated.
The National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) award was conferred on eleven individuals who had distinguished themselves in public service, while two corporate organisations, Lubcon Limited and Artee Group, were also bestowed with the award.
And in another development, the Federal Government has said it would reposition the health sector and harmonise National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP) to fit into Buhari administration’s programme.
It also said it has concluded plans to build a robust and resilient National Health System that is capable of responding to emerging health emergencies by world standard public health protocol.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Linus Awute, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja, yesterday.
He explained the move was to maintain the global commendation of Nigeria on Ebola Virus containment and Nigeria’s involvement and leading role in the containment process going on in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
He revealed that the Health Ministry had begun the harmonisation of the NSHDP with the vision of the Buhari-led government on healthcare to achieve Universal Health Coverage for Nigerians within the shortest possible time.
While expressing optimism that the current arrangement would turn around Nigeria’s health sector for the better, Awute said: “We should be able to bring the principle of equity into healthcare by ensuring that rural poor have access to affordable and reliable healthcare through Universal Health Coverage.
“We are going to achieve Universal Health Coverage, not only through the normal statutory budget fund but by effective internal domestic resource mobilisation to be driven by Social Health Insurance Programme as well as Voluntary Contributory Social Health Insurance Programme which had been launched by our ministry and is awaiting buy-in of the state governments to accelerate the process,” he said.
It would be recalled that the NSHDP framework (2009- 2015) was launched in July 2009 with the aim of harmonising Federal, States and local governments’ health plans, thereafter serving as the basis for national ownership, resource mobilisation/allocation and mutual accountability by all stakeholders – government, development partners, civil society, private sector and communities.
The framework was based on the principles of the Four Ones which include one health policy, one national plan, one budget, and one monitoring and evaluation framework for all levels of government.
It also provides the template to concretise the health sector development component of the government, Vision 2020 and a platform for achieving the MDGs.
The measure, according to the Awute, is to guarantee equity in ensuring that poor rural dwellers have access to affordable and reliable healthcare.
The vision, he noted, would be driven by the community-based Social Health Insurance Programme as well as the Voluntary Contributor Social Health Insurance Programme which have already been launched by the ministry.
He, however, noted that the recent state visit of President Buhari to the United States of America (USA) has started yielding positive results in the health sector.
“The health sector has started to feel the positive impact of that visit as there are emerging new partnership undertakings between key agencies of the United States and other global organisations who are now keying into the programme of the Nigeria health sector.
“One of the key elements of the bilateral relationship between the United States and Nigeria is international health security for which Nigeria’s scorecard has been rated very high in the Global Community,” he stated.
Credit: Daily Independent (Nigeria)
