ABUJA, Nigeria, September 27, 2023/ — The Vice President, Sen Kashim Shettima, has assured that the Tinubu administration will reposition the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, for good and quality policy advice to the government.
This, he said, had become pertinent given the very crucial and indispensable role the institute would be playing in shaping and retooling government’s policies.
According to the VP, the Federal Government would make use of the beautiful recommendations brought by the institution.
Vice President Shettima gave the assurance on Tuesday when he received in audience the management team from NIPSS led by the Director General, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “We really need to recalibrate the system and see to it that all the beautiful policy recommendations by NIPSS are brought into reality, because the world is changing and the world is gradually becoming knowledge-driven.
“NIPSS is a policy think-tank for the government just as we have its equivalent in other parts of the world such as the Global Policy Institute, the Chatham House, the Adam Smith Institute, the Royal United Institute for Defence Studies in Russia, and the Hopkins Institute in the United States of America.”
VP 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 are now in the knowledge-driven age. When others are talking about artificial intelligence, of bio-technology, of internet things, we are busy dwelling on farmer-herders clash and things that we ought to have overcome decades ago,” he stated.
Asking the management of the Institute to make a formal presentation of the executive summaries of all its policy recommendations to the government, Vice President Shettima 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 will 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.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Director General of NIPSS said his management team came to brief the Vice President on the operations of the institute, adding that the organisation was established in 1979 to advise government on several policy directions and train high profile policy makers in the country.
His words, “There is 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.”
According to Prof Omotayo, the Vice President oversees the administration of NIPSS, approves the nominees to be trained, as well as approve the course of study for the session.
Those in the delegation were Brig Gen L Y Udaya (rtd); Prof Fumi J. Para-Mallam; Prof Dung Pam Sha; Codr S Dahun; Prof Sola Adeyanjin; Bawa Ahmed and Dr Catherine Maduagwu.
