In its most recent Fiscal Responsibility and Institutional Performance Report, the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) were recognized as two of Nigeria’s most exceptional public institutions by the Transparency Watch Initiative, an organization that assesses civic accountability and governance.
According to Saturday Independent, the report was released yesterday in Abuja by Dr. Ifure Ataifure, the group’s executive director. It evaluated federal agencies based on their practices regarding transparency, fiscal discipline, project implementation, regulatory efficiency, public responsiveness, and measurable contribution to national development goals.
In addition to the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Debt Management Office (DMO), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the NEDC and NCC were named among the top-performing institutions in the report.
An evaluation of public sector performance metrics across critical economic sectors, as well as months of stakeholder engagement, field evaluations, and independent institutional monitoring, the organization stated, led to the ranking.
Ataifure praised the NEDC for its noticeable influence on north-east villages hit hard by the insurgency and its intervention-driven development paradigm.
Despite the challenging security climate in the region, he claims, the commission has been remarkably consistent in rehabilitating infrastructure, providing humanitarian intervention, supporting education, delivering healthcare, building homes, and implementing livelihood restoration programs.
The NEDC has demonstrated a strong dedication to post-conflict rebuilding and institutional accountability despite operating in one of the country’s most challenging situations, according to Ataifure.
“The commission has maintained its track record of visible project execution and strategic coordination of development interventions across insurgency-devastated communities, all while public confidence in many government institutions is weak.”
Several communities in the northeast have reported an increase in faith in the government as a result of the agency’s community-focused interventions and its expanding stakeholder engagement framework, according to the report.
The NCC was lauded by the report as a highly professional and stable regulating body in Nigeria’s telecoms sector.
According to Ataifure, the commission has maintained regulatory consistency while promoting digital inclusiveness, investor trust in the telecom industry, consumer protection, and broadband growth.
Institutional maturity and strategic leadership, in his view, are on display at the NCC, which has been able to keep the industry stable despite inflationary pressures, infrastructural issues, and operators’ increasing operational expenses.
What he meant was that the NCC is still a shining example of effective regulation in Nigeria’s government.
As a result of its impact on digital access, communications stability, broadband penetration, and economic productivity, the telecommunications sector remains a strong engine of growth for the country.
The report praised the commission’s approach to regulation as rigorous, predictable, and development-oriented, highlighting its balance between investment sustainability and consumer safety.
According to Transparency Watch Initiative, compared to other government agencies, these two showed more institutional coherence, which is commendable given the prevalence of bureaucratic inefficiencies, a lackluster execution culture, and inadequate accountability mechanisms.
Ataifure further by saying that all government agencies should be held to account for the public good, but that government entities that provide tangible benefits to the public should be acknowledged in order to foster a more performance-oriented culture.
If public institutions in Nigeria do not adopt results-oriented governance, operational discipline, and openness, he argued, the country’s larger development goals will remain unfulfilled.
When institutions are led by competent individuals with a dedication to public service, the results achieved by the NEDC and NCC demonstrate that effective governance is still within reach, as stated in the report.
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