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Nigeria: FCT Water Board Sets Standards for Services
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Daily Trust (Abuja)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Abubakar Yakubu
Residents of the Federal Capital Territory who depend on water supply from the FCT water board would soon be able to say exactly when they would have water or not as the board has set in motion processes leading to setting of specific standards for its services.
This is one of the outcomes of the result of evaluation of its services by the SERVICOM office.
The water board would in the standards tell residents how long it would take them to fix burst pipes after report, attend to and resolve complaints, reflect payment of bills and inform them when there would be interruption in supply for any reason.
"We have been educated more and we are now looking forward to moving to the next stage. We want to make sure that service is provided and appreciated," Engineer Jibrin Ibrahim, the Director of the board said when he received the report of the Compliance evaluation from the SERVICOM office.
Although the management of the board was not happy with the rating of the evaluation which put their services at the poor category, the director said his management has gone ahead with empowering its customer care department through training to handle customer complaints more effectively and efficiently.
Mr Ibrahim said some of the constrains that had affected the service delivery of the board included lack of office space which has not made it possible for them to have a proper reception area.
The SERVICOM office in the report commended the water board for evolving a systematic consultation process with customers and the establishment of customer care desk and help lines.
The report however said there was need for further training of frontline staff on complaints handling and the installation of signage and directional signs in the office to enable customers find their way easily within the premises.
The report asked the management of the board to set standards for all of its services so that the customers would have some form of expectation of when complaints made are to be resolved and timeframes within which issues of pipe burst and rusting would be resolved when brought to the notice of the board.
"The board should also work on the issue of double billing and non-crediting of customer's account after payment which often leads to wrong disconnection of customers from water supply even when they were not owing" said Dr Christiana Famro, Chief SERVICOM Officer, who led the delegation that presented the report.
She said the work of SERVICOM office was like that of a critical friend who wanted the best for all government agencies.
She assured the board that the SERVICOM Institute would provide training to fill the service delivery gaps.
Apart from this, the DFID through its Public Service Reform (PSR) support for government agencies has already assisted the board to draft a new water policy for the territory and a plan to make it a legal and independent entity.
Mr Joe Abba, who is the coordinator of PSR, said at the presentation that the water board would be world class by the end of the reforms going on in its activities.
" That is why this evaluation report is important to us as it would help us to refocus on areas that the board has been found to be weak and also in the service improvement plan for the board," he said .
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SERVICOM evaluation reports have become standard assessment for services provided by government agencies since the establishment of the SERVICOM office in 2004 and approval of the evaluation index by the Federal Executive Council.
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