The Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Joe Abah, has stated that Nigeria’s public service has greatly improved in performance since 1999 following the enactment of various positive policies.
Abah made the assertion on Saturday, January, 31, 2015 in Abuja while speaking at the January edition of Speakers Corner Trust monthly public debate.
He further stated that the introduction of the cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which has greatly reduced corruption has seen the increase in the use of bank cards from N38 million to N34 billion between 2012 and 2014.
Abah also enthused that the banking sector reforms have seen the Nigeria’s average capital adequacy ratio increase from four per cent in 2009 to eighteen per cent in 2013.
Giving more figures, Abah said the Federal Government has repositioned the pension system which has seen pension funds increase from a deficit of N43 billion to an unprecedented N4.4 trillion in 2014 while the treasury single account stood at N86 billion in 2014 as against the N102 billion it was in 2011.
Still revealing the developmental strides of the current administration, Abah said the revenue gotten from tax has increased from N455 billion in 2000 to N4.8 trillion in 2013, as all retirees get paid at the right time, unlike the military regime.
He said: “The reform in the pension system has seen our pension funds grow from a deficit of N43 billion in 2004 to a healthy credit of N4.6 trillion in 2014. Public procurement reforms has brought savings of N618 billion since 2007 and anti-corruption efforts has seen Nigeria move from the second most corrupt country in the world when we returned to democracy in 1999 to now being perceived to be the 39th most corrupt.”
