Nuzo Nwanneka Eziechi

Driving Meaningful Change In The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Abuja.

“I applied for the AIG Public Leaders Programme (PLP) because I have always been passionate about driving meaningful change in the public sector. The AIG PLP’s focus on strategic leadership, and performance management particularly resonated with me, as these are critical areas in improving efficiency and accountability in government institutions. -Nuzo Nwanneka Eziechi, Assistant Director and Head of Talents and Performance Management, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Abuja.

Nuzo Nwanneka Eziechi, is an Assistant Director and Head of Talents and Performance Management at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Abuja. Driven by a strong passion for change in the public sector, she applied for the AIG Public Leaders Programme. 

“The programme’s focus on strategic leadership, stakeholder engagement, and performance management particularly resonated with me, as these are critical areas in improving efficiency and accountability in government institutions. I was eager to refine my skills, collaborate with like-minded professionals, and implement reforms that would have a lasting impact on public sector performance,” she says.

Speaking on the impact of the programme, she affirms that the AIG Public Leaders Programme provided her with the tools and insights to lead significant reform initiatives that have truly transformed the Bureau of Public Enterprises, the agency responsible for implementing Nigeria’s privatisation and commercialisation policies.

“I honed my skills in stakeholder engagement, strategic execution, and performance management—skills that were instrumental in driving a major transformation in how performance is managed at the Bureau.  As a direct result of my PLP experience, I successfully introduced the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as the Bureau’s primary performance management tool. This reform has strengthened goal-setting processes, improved the fairness and objectivity of performance evaluations, and institutionalized a structured feedback culture within the organization.”

Speaking about her reform project, she reveals that before her project, the organisation experienced performance management challenges. To address these challenges, she implemented a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework as the primary performance management tool to achieve greater clarity on strategic priorities, improve accountability in performance assessments, and champion a culture of continuous feedback and improvement.

“Before this initiative, the Bureau faced significant challenges, including a lack of well-defined performance goals, subjectivity in evaluations, and limited feedback mechanisms between supervisors and employees,” she revealed.

Her initiative dwelt on areas of stakeholder engagement to align leaders and employees on objectives, structured feedback sessions to track progress and reinforce benefits, training programs to ensure effective adoption of the balanced scorecard, and a Performance Management System (PMS) manual to make the BSC an important part of the organisation’s performance management framework.

“To address these gaps, I developed and implemented a structured stakeholder engagement strategy to ensure leadership and employees were fully aligned with the reform objectives. Introduced a series of feedback and communication sessions to sustain dialogue, track progress, and reinforce the benefits of the new system. Led an extensive training programme to equip employees with the necessary skills to adopt and apply the BSC framework effectively. Authored a Performance Management System (PMS) Manual, which now serves as a reference document, institutionalizing the BSC as a core component of the Bureau’s performance management framework.”

As a result of the project, the bureau now has an enhanced performance culture and organisational performance is strengthened. Their strategic priorities are clearer, with improved accountability in performance assessments and continuous feedback and improvement. With a better performance management system, employees are challenged to give their best, ensuring that better execution of privatisation and commercialisation programs and ensures that government owned businesses are managed efficiently.