By; MURTALA ADOGI MOHAMMED
Your Excellency, Congratulations once again, the legal battle is over after almost eight months of distraction. The distractions are over, so the time to deliver is now! As citizens, we have a responsibility not to only pray for you but also to provide some workable solutions and recommendations.
Your Excellency, you have almost 1.5 years left to deliver good governance to the people of Nasarawa State. By the end of 2025 (next year) posters and billboards will be everywhere in Nasarawa State. That might be another distraction.
So far, you have done some good work in the areas of System Strengthening such as the adoption of the Framework for Responsible Investment in Land Intensive Agriculture, FRILIA; the signing of executive order of the Nasarawa Governance Result and Efficiency Mechanism, NGREM; the establishment of the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Agency; Nasarawa State Social Investment Agency, and Nasarawa Investment & Development Agency NASIDA all these are laudable initiatives. Well-done Sir.
Your Excellency, one key area you need to really work on is Coordination. To minimize the rates of disjointed efforts by your appointees. You need to develop a strong strategy for managing coordination and results delivery among all Ministries, the Deputy Governor’s office, the Office of the SSG, the Office of the Head of Service and Procurement Bureau, and some relevant agencies in Nasarawa state.
Overall, you need some more technical hands and brains in your own office – The Governor’s Office. The SSA Governor’s Office is doing his best as per coordination of the happenings in your office.
But in terms of daily, weekly, and monthly governance performance review meetings – you need to have a team of 3 to 5 well-experienced and competent people to brainstorm and review performance. The team dynamic is very important.
Your Excellency, you may as well consider the following recommendations.
1. Integrated Planning Sessions – Either SSG/or the Chief of Staff if there is one should be organizing a monthly joint planning session to align objectives, identify synergies, and develop integrated strategies for collective impact. There is a need for Monthly coordination meetings to understand who is doing what, how and why, and the expected results.
2. Develop a Shared Data Platform – This will help in implementing a unified data management system to streamline information sharing, enhance transparency, and support evidence-based decision-making across agencies. Some of us staying outside Lafia might need to know what happening with just a click of a keyboard. You may consider setting up Nasarawa State Bureau of Statistics NSBS.
3. Review and Develop Strategic Plan: Your newly appointed team members will need a template and tools to work with. In collaboration with NASIDA and the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and Planning – there is a need to set up a technical team for the review of Nasarawa State Economic and Development Strategy NEDS 2019-2023 and for the development of (NEDS 2.0) 2024-2028.
Successful leaders know their talent pool and how to use it. They are experts at activating the capabilities of their team members and knowing when to deploy their unique skill sets given the circumstances at hand. Your Excellency, with your private sector experiences, please be that LEADER!
Strong leaders are expert decision-makers. They either facilitate the dialogue to empower their team members to reach a strategic conclusion or they do it themselves. They focus on “making things happen” at all times. Your Excellency, with your private sector experiences, please be that LEADER!
Lastly, Governance is about solving problems, therefore, as a Governor of my State with great potential, you need to have problem solvers with analytical skills, problem-solving skills, and experience in delivering reforms and results. You may consider setting up Nasarawa State Governance and Development Advisory Council NGDAC.
I hope and pray with these recommendations, Nasarawa state can foster a more cohesive and synergistic approach among its agencies, leading to improved coordination and enhanced results delivery in various developmental initiatives.
Murtala Adogi Mohammed PhD. (Danmasanin Adogi) is the Founder/CEO System Strategy & Policy Lab
