ABUJA: The World Bank, in collaboration with the Service Compact with All Nigerians (SERVICOM), has inaugurated the Nigeria Electronic Grievance Management and Feedback Mechanism Platform (E-GM) to strengthen accountability and service delivery in the country.
The platform is a digital system designed to create a centralised, transparent and trackable mechanism for receiving and managing complaints and feedback from citizens, particularly on projects supported by the World Bank.
In his keynote address, the Permanent Secretary of the General Services Office in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr Ibrahim Kana, said the initiative would reinforce accountability and transparency in Nigeria’s public service.
Kana, represented by Mrs Kamiltu Kida, Director of Legal Services in the office, described the platform as a landmark initiative that would strengthen citizens’ trust in government institutions.
“It is a great honour to witness the launch of the Nigeria Electronic Grievance Management Platform, a milestone that reinforces our collective commitment to accountability, transparency and service excellence in Nigeria’s public sector,” he said.
He commended SERVICOM for its sustained efforts in promoting service delivery reforms across Ministries, Departments and Agencies through service charters, complaint-handling systems and performance monitoring frameworks.
Kana said the decision by the World Bank to partner SERVICOM to host and manage the electronic grievance redress platform demonstrates the agency’s nationwide presence and institutional capacity.
According to him, embedding the platform within SERVICOM will ensure that grievance redress mechanisms for development projects remain functional even after the lifespan of such projects.
“This guarantees continuity in complaint resolution beyond the lifespan of individual projects and programmes, transforming what was once project-bound into a sustainable national mechanism,” he said.
In her remarks, the Acting National Coordinator of SERVICOM, Mrs Helen Lawal, said the inauguration marked a defining milestone in strengthening accountability and citizen-centred governance in Nigeria.
She explained that the initiative was developed through sustained collaboration between SERVICOM and the Environmental and Social Framework Unit of the World Bank.
Lawal said the engagement, which began in 2023, involved a series of meetings, interviews, workshops with pilot MDAs, capacity-building sessions and the establishment of a situation room for managing the platform.
“The objective is to ensure that grievance redress processes tied to World Bank-assisted projects do not terminate at the end of project cycles but continue seamlessly within Nigeria’s national accountability framework,” she said.
She added that SERVICOM’s nationwide structure, including ministerial and parastatal SERVICOM units across MDAs, would provide an institutional framework for receiving, tracking and resolving complaints across government institutions.
Also speaking, Mr Elijah Siapere, Senior Social Development Specialist at the World Bank, said grievance and complaint resolution remained a critical element of quality service delivery and project implementation.
He commended the Federal Government and SERVICOM for providing the enabling environment that made the initiative possible.
A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the World Bank and SERVICOM to formalise collaboration on the implementation and management of the platform.
