Go beyond routine to improve service delivery, BPE DG urges workers

The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Ayodeji Gbeleyi, has urged public servants to go beyond routine compliance and embrace reforms that solve real problems, protect public interest and improve the quality of services delivered to Nigerians.

Gbeleyi spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the 2026 SERVICOM Day/Symposium organised as part of the Bureau’s Servicom Week activities. The event was themed, “Going the Extra Mile: Reforming Responsibly.”

SERVICOM, which means Service Compact with All Nigerians, was established to improve service delivery in government institutions by setting service standards, promoting accountability and providing mechanisms through which citizens can seek redress when services fall below expectations.

Gbeleyi said responsible reform must not amount to change for its own sake, but should produce improvements that citizens can see, feel and trust.

“Responsible reform is not just change for its own sake. It is a change that solves real problems, protects public interest, uses resources prudently, strengthens accountability and delivers results that citizens can see, feel and trust,” he said.

According to him, citizens are entitled to quality services, accessible processes, fair treatment and effective remedies when government institutions fail to meet expected standards.

“Going the extra mile means refusing to accept the minimum compliance as the highest standard of public service. It means listening carefully, simplifying processes, anticipating legitimate needs, communicating clearly, resolving complaints promptly and taking ownership of outcomes.

“Simply put, it is the discipline of doing the right things at the right time, even when it demands more from us as public service providers,” the BPE boss said.

Gbeleyi said the BPE’s approach to reform must be lawful, evidence-based and sensitive to its effect on citizens and public institutions.

He added that the Bureau would seek to improve service delivery by providing reliable information, simplifying requirements, deploying technology responsibly, removing unnecessary bottlenecks and ensuring fairness and due process.

“We must provide reliable information, make our requirements clear, deploy technology responsibly, more so in this era of AI, remove avoidable bottlenecks, uphold fairness and due process, safeguard public assets and ensure that every reform decision advances efficiency, transparency, accountability and sustainable national development,” he said.

The BPE DG also urged staff to treat complaints and feedback as useful information for improving government processes.

“I therefore invite this symposium to move from discussion to practical commitments, to review and strengthen our service standards, simplify high-impact processes, use data and feedback to identify and address recurring failures and hold ourselves accountable for measurable improvement,” he said.

He warned that seemingly minor failures in service delivery could undermine public confidence. “Leadership must also set the direction and remove obstacles, while every member of staff must recognise that one delayed response, one unexplained procedure or one discourteous encounter can weaken public confidence.

“Equally, every problem solved, every process improved, and every stakeholder treated with dignity strengthens the bond between the government and the people,” Gbeleyi said.

Delivering the keynote address, governance and public service reform expert Dr Joe Abah recalled that poor service delivery was one of the major concerns that led to the establishment of SERVICOM.

Abah, a former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, said his former office in the United Kingdom was involved in assessing service delivery in Nigeria before the initiative was established.

“It was when the DG was speaking and seeing the representative of Servicom that I remembered that the last office that I worked with in the UK, the Prime Minister’s Office of Public Service Reforms, was actually the office that came to assess service delivery in Nigeria that led to the establishment of Servicom.

“And I remember a report. It was called ‘Service Delivery in Nigeria, a Roadmap.’ And our conclusion was that services were not being delivered in Nigeria, basically. That’s what we concluded, that the government were not serving the people. And that’s what led to the establishment of Servicom,” he said.

Abah stressed that SERVICOM should apply not only to interactions between government agencies and citizens but also to services provided by public servants to one another. “Servicom is a service compact with all Nigerians. And everybody in the Bureau, I presume, are also Nigerians. So the services we receive from each other are covered by Servicom,” he said.

Representing the National Coordinator of SERVICOM, Mrs Erin Lawa, the Assistant Director, Nurudeen Oyerinde, said every public servant had a role to play in improving service delivery.

“Sometimes it’s simple listening patiently to a customer, providing accurate information, responding promptly to enquiries, showing empathy or taking responsibility for solving a problem. This simple action makes a significant difference in the experience of the citizen,” he said.

Oyerinde said complaints should be regarded as opportunities to identify weaknesses in government processes rather than as mere criticism.

“Complaints should not be seen as a mere criticism. They can provide valuable information about where our processes need improvement. A responsible organisation listens to its customers, learns from its experience and continues to improve its system,” he said.

He urged BPE employees to make the theme a personal commitment, saying, “Go the extra mile, give that extra attention, show that extra courtesy, provide that extra support and make that extra effort to create a positive experience for the citizens.”

Oyerinde added that consistent improvement in service delivery would help rebuild public trust and strengthen citizens’ confidence in government institutions.

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