Vice President Kashim Shettima has pledged the support of the Federal Government to ensure the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, is not turned into a dumping ground for frustrated public officers.
He spoke Tuesday when he received the management team from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, led by the Director General, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He asked the management of the institute to make a formal presentation of the executive summaries of all its policy recommendations to the government.
Shettima said the present administration would reposition NIPSS for good and quality policy advice to the government.
He said this had become pertinent given the very crucial and indispensable role the institute would be playing in shaping and retooling government’s policies.
He said: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is determined to reset the national agenda. President Bola Tinubu has the courage to take far-reaching decisions.
“As much as possible, we’ll support you not to compromise on your quality, not to compromise on your standard, so that you should not be a dumping ground for frustrated public officers because, at a point in time, that was what NIPSS degenerated into.
“If somebody is going to be punished then he is sent to NIPSS for a year. Somebody with such a mindset can hardly absorb what you are going to teach. So, this time around, as much as possible, we will minimise political patronage and send credible people within the required age bracket, within the required professional cadre so that whatever experiences and exposure they gain can be translated into the governance structure.”
Shettima cautioned Africa against missing the chance to fill the gap in a knowledge-driven world as she did during the agriculture and industrial revolution.
“We missed the agricultural age; Africa missed the industrial age. We’re now in the knowledge-driven age. When others are talking about artificial intelligence, of bio-technology, of internet things, we’re busy dwelling on farmer-herders clash and things that we ought to have overcome decades ago.”
Earlier in his remarks, Omotayo said his management team came to brief Shettima on the operations of the institute.
He said: “There’s no problem in the country that NIPSS has no solution to. NIPSS supports the Presidency in terms of policy. It deals with all sectors of the economy.”
