ENHANCING STATES' AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES' EFFICIENCY THROUGH INNOVATIVE RESULTS-BASED AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A CASE OF FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY ADP, NIGERIA

Abstract

The dismay performance of the States' Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) since the withdrawal of the World Bank finance and epileptic funding support by the States' Governments necessitated the need for an alternative innovative solution for re-invigorating the performance of the ailing ADP System in Nigeria. Thus, it is against the backdrop and the need to enhance efficiency, service delivery and accountability in the face of dwindling and competing public sector resources that this study was conceived. The study therefore (i) assessed the strategic and operational planning activities within the ADP; (ii) ascertained the status of monitoring and evaluation system within the programme; (iii) identified issues surrounding the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) System in the ADP and those critical to the implementation of the results-based system; and (iv) made recommendations for effective implementation of the results-based and performance management system in the ADP. The methodology entailed the use of e-questionnaire to elicit responses from senior staff of the ADP and a Focused GHroup Discussion which covered all categories of staff. The analytical approach entailed diagnostic assessment, stakeholder perception analysis, descriptive analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOPT) and policy, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) analysis. The study concluded that the existing system has been unable to support effective program implementation, in view of the obvious inadequacies. Thus, the study recommended: the need for political will and a legislation mandating the use of the results-based management and performance system; urgent capacity building for PME staff of the ADP; adequate funding support for the programme and the need to make the strategic plan of the ADP more visible and accessible to staff. Adoption of these recommendations is expected to enhance operational efficiency, service delivery, transparency, accountability and achievement of tangible results within the ADP system.