The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was the second most inefficient public institution in Nigeria in 2023, according to a report released by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) on Monday evening.

In the report, the PEBEC, an inter-ministerial authority existing within the presidency to monitor how efficient and transparent public organisations are in facilitating a seamless business environment as contained in the Business Facilitation Act 2023, revealed that 39 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were measured in the preceding year and were graded based on “their adherence to service level agreements (SLAs), costs and procedures, one government directive, and default approval”.

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The police had a poor rating under the efficiency compliance indicator, occupying the 39th position. This represents no efficiency at all.

Other agencies with such a bad outing are the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Bank of Industry (BOI), National Collateral Registry (NCR), Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) and Joint Tax Board.

With 38th position under transparency metric, the NPF scored an abysmal 31.88 percent, leading only the SMUML.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Against all indicators, the performance of the NPF in the past year was below the standard expected of any agency.

On sector-specific directives, agencies dealing with passenger and goods movements through the port and airports were evaluated. These agencies were measured on the basis of monthly efficiency reports, citizen feedback and site visits.

Officials of customs, ports employees and other categories of workers were caught steeped in rent-seeking behaviour, collecting bribes from passengers and rendering services to highest bidders without any consequence.

Exporters confirmed that bribe demands were common during document processing amidst delayed service delivery, forcing customers to attract extra costs.

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Only seven organisations had good ratings under the efficiency scoreboard. The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) had the highest ranking score of 66.42 percent, Nigerians Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), 64.02 percent; Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), 61.98 percent; Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), 56.55 percent; Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), 55.96 percent; Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC), 55.56 percent; and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), 53.36 percent. The rest got very low grades.

Twenty-nine agencies recorded good scores under transparency ranking, with SON maintaining its first position with 71.33 percent.

Most MDAs have a bad reputation for maintaining inaccessible information channels and declining to respond to public record requests from citizens and the press, contrary to the objectives of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).