Lagos News
A summary of SPARC’s work in Lagos will be posted here and updated on a regular basis. The summary will include our work with Lagos State Government (LSG), recent events and progress with governance initiatives. There is also a link to LSG website from here.
SPARC is supporting Governance reform in Lagos State in three main areas:
- Strengthening capacity for developing policies and strategies including monitoring and evaluation;
- Improving the management of public financial resources; and,
- Management of the public service.
The programme has developed a comprehensive portfolio of activities in these areas and work closely with Key Ministries, Departments and Agencies of LSG. The LASG/DFID State Steering Committee formally approved a comprehensive and detailed Governance Change Plan on 14 October 2009.
Strenghtening LSG capacity to develop policies and strategies, including monitoring and evaluation.
The Lagos Self Evaluation Assessment Tool (SEAT) report and validated policy and strategy (P&S) work plan reflect that Lagos State Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (LASEEDS) needs to be critically reviewed as a basis for preparing an improved comprehensive State Development Plan. There is also a need to ensure that all sector targets and strategies of ministries, departments and agencies are harmonized and aligned with it. It is also important to ensure that functional structures for 'managing' the quality, coordination, implementation and delivery of outputs and feasibility of plans are operational.
Improved management of public financial resources in Lagos State
LSG conducted a Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) self assessment in May 2009. In summary, the PEFA outcome shows that the Lagos State Government posted very strong performances in many aspects of payroll controls, revenue collection, account preparation, and external auditing. The public financial management system also showed particular weaknesses in fiscal discipline, especially in the credibility of the budget. Budget planning and implementation planning are also weak. Finally, the procurement process is particularly weak and insufficiently transparent. The PEFA report is now available from State Treasury Office page on Lagos State website, click here.
Public service management
International best practice shows that a clear structure appropriate to government business in which MDA, parastatal and local government mandates and responsibilities are clear, are an essential prerequisite for Public Service Management and reform. A fundamental first step in improving government performance and accountability is to create a clearer picture of LSG mandates and coherence with sector Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) as the foundation for the introduction of corporate plans and objectives.
Coordination in Lagos
SPARC is actively involved in coordination activities with other DFID State Level Programmes SLPs, (SAVI, ESSPIN, PATHS2) development partners and their programmes in the State. MTSSs emerged as one of the major issues requiring better coordination among the SLPs. With leadership from the P&S team, a clear picture is emerging on the process following the conclusions of Stakeholders Forum organized by Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget (MEPB) with SPARC support.
The SLPs coordination meetings have improved significantly with regular monthly meeting hosted and coordinated by SPARC. SLPs including the new entrants PATHS2, have worked together to identify some areas of joint work in line with the Structured Approach Paper (SAP) on "Noding". A matrix has been developed showing actual and potential areas of collaboration among the SLPs.
For more information contact: km@sparc-nigeria.com
