THE role of the governing boards of government agencies is to drive general policy formulation and implementation and not to get involved in the day-to-day administration of the agencies, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has insisted.
Keyamo stated this in Abuja while inaugurating the governing boards of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies Ilorin (MINILS) and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
He added that the governing boards are responsible for setting out the agencies’ economic, financial, operational and administrative policies, programmes and targets in line with the overall objectives as provided by the government.
According to the minister, the boards also have the responsibility for meeting targets, introducing broad policy measures for seamless operation and supervising the management to ensure they achieve the set targets.
He stressed that the mandates of the two agencies are capacity building, job creation, wealth generation and labour education to sustain the development of the country.
Keyamo said it is obvious that the challenge before the boards is re-engineering and developing new strategies and suitable modalities for translating the broad objectives of government to tangible goals to impact the lives of the citizens, especially the vulnerable.
While stressing zero tolerance of the current administration for corruption, Keyamo said it will be irregular and, indeed, unacceptable for any member to ask management to provide fringe benefits they are not legally entitled to.
He also cautioned members who represent institutions on the boards to inform relevant authorities when they retire or redeploy for their replacement saying there are reports of retired or reassigned public officers who keep quiet about their status to ensure unjustified retention of boards and councils contrary to their terms of engagement.
