The Federal Government is stepping up efforts to enforce accountability and improve service delivery across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), with renewed emphasis on measurable performance and compliance with government reforms.

The drive was highlighted at a high-level strategic engagement and press briefing on MDA data collection and harmonisation, hosted by the Federal Ministry of Finance under the leadership of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.

The Director-General of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Princess Zahrah Mustapha Audu, presented findings from the Business Environment Enhancement Programme Accelerator (BEEPA), which assessed the implementation of reforms across federal MDAs.

The assessment showed that 16 MDAs had achieved full implementation of the reforms evaluated. However, recent mystery shopping exercises revealed a decline in responsiveness after active monitoring ended, raising concerns about the sustainability of improvements recorded by the agencies.

The findings underscored the need for government institutions to move beyond periodic compliance checks towards sustained performance, accountability and efficient service delivery.

Addressing heads of MDAs, Audu highlighted ongoing mystery shopping exercises, the live performance tracker and the forthcoming end-of-year compliance ranking under the Business Facilitation Act (BFA).

She explained that the mechanisms were designed to provide continuous visibility into the performance of government agencies, identify service delivery gaps and ensure that institutions remained accountable for their reform commitments.

The mystery shopping exercises assess how agencies respond to service requests and comply with established business facilitation requirements, while the performance tracker provides a platform for monitoring progress and identifying areas requiring intervention.

The forthcoming BFA compliance ranking is expected to provide an assessment of agencies’ performance in implementing reforms aimed at improving the business environment.

The PEBEC chief emphasised that performance monitoring would remain continuous, with compliance measured against established requirements and agencies expected to account for their results.

The engagement also highlighted the Federal Ministry of Finance‘s increasing emphasis on institutional performance, with the ministry expected to consider agencies’ responsiveness, performance and reform compliance in its engagements and dealings with them.

The approach aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s stated position against non-performance in government and the administration’s drive to ensure that public institutions deliver measurable results for citizens and businesses.

For PEBEC, the priority remains translating reform commitments into tangible and sustainable outcomes, particularly in improving the efficiency, transparency and responsiveness of public institutions.

Through continuous mystery shopping, real-time digital tracking, BFA compliance assessments and data-driven monitoring, the council aims to strengthen transparency, identify implementation gaps and support MDAs in addressing weaknesses in service delivery.

The findings suggest that achieving full compliance at a particular point does not necessarily guarantee sustained performance, particularly where responsiveness declines after active monitoring ends.

For businesses, delays, poor communication and inconsistent implementation of government procedures can increase operating costs and undermine confidence in public institutions. Sustained compliance with business facilitation reforms is therefore important to creating a more predictable environment for investment.

PEBEC reiterated its commitment to working with government institutions to strengthen accountability and improve service delivery across the public sector.

The council maintained that the focus must shift from compliance on paper to continuous monitoring, measurable results and lasting improvements in the way government agencies serve Nigerians and businesses.