Governor Abdullahi Sule has said that Nasarawa State would only be on the path to greatness once the people of the state agree to set aside sentiments and remain committed to doing what is right.
Governor Sule stated this while delivering a speech at a two-day retreat organized for permanent secretaries on policy formulation and implementation, at the Kini Country Guest Inn, Akwanga, on Thursday.
According to the Governor, he is motivated to believe in Nasarawa State because the state has the potentials to become one of the greatest states in the country.
He however pointed out that the state needs to do the right thing, get the right people who would be committed and support the government achieve its objectives.
“I truly believe in this state. What is making me constantly to continue to believe more and more in Nasarawa State is because of the potentials to become great. Nasarawa State has the potentials to become one of the greatest states in the country.
“All we need to do is to do the right thing. To get the right people. To get their buy-in. To get the commitment. The day we abandon all these sentiments on issues about this or that, about whether this is going here or that. The day we do that, that is the day we will have a direction in this state. That is reason why I keep preaching, fighting and pushing everything that I can,” he stated.
Governor Sule said when he was coming to be governor he came prepared, adding that the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS) document was developed because he came from a background of developing policies.
“The NEDS document is a policy document. And there was no way I would just jump in from all the big companies that I have ran without some kind of policy document,” he said.
He noted that even though the NEDS document was meant to cover the period from 2019 to 2023, there is still room for new initiatives, with his administration now focusing on implementation and monitoring.
“We left room for new things that we are going to do. In the new policy that we are putting together, most of the things are going to be on implementation of what we have done and monitoring to see if what we have done is right. That is just what is new that we are adding to the policy. But our policy really remains the same,” he said.
Governor Sule explained that, in spite of the challenges confronting the state, some of the benefits of the reforms and policy directions initiated by his administration have begun to bear positive results.
For instance, only recently, Nasarawa State was selected as the best state when it comes to the treatment of hepatitis, with Nasarawa again selected as the best state in Covid-19 vaccination coverage in the country.
He added that a significant milestone was also recorded recently when Nasarawa State received over thirteen billion naira, the highest in the country, from the NG-CARES.
The funds were disbursed based on the results achieved by the states and FCT in their efforts at supporting poor and vulnerable Nigerians under the NG-CARES program, with the top three best-performing states in the second round of assessment namely Nasarawa, earning N13,697,828,496.96; Cross River, receiving N10,944,747,818.84; and Zamfara, with N10,231,055,267.82.
Governor Sule said he attended the retreat in order to encourage the permanent secretaries to buy-in into the development initiatives of his administration.
He said as critical stakeholders, the permanent secretaries have a great role to play in policy formulation and implementation and as such, the retreat is not only timely but necessary.
“I believe strongly in human capital development. I think that is the reason why we decided to create the agency for human capital. Because when I came in, the first set of people I had opportunity to meet were the PermanentSecretaries. They were the first set of people that I worked with before appointing the Commissioners.
“And today, I don’t know how it is, to be honest with you. But I believe very strongly that the capacity today is better than the capacity I met on ground. We have gone through a few reforms in the selection of Permanent Secretaries. We have kept aside who we know, or who we believe can do better or who we trust. We introduced some level of competences into it. That is why we introduced some kind of test or examinations for us to see if the people know exactly what they are doing.
“I know that we got a lot of resistance and bashing. But that is normal. Any time you are bringing something new, you receive a lot of resistance. But I think at the end of the day, when the results look better, people will now appreciate the idea behind that,” he said.
He therefore urged them to utilize the opportunity provided by the training to learn.
“It’s not about AA Sule. The maximum AA Sule could do is another three and a half years and he is gone. But all of us are stakeholders and we remain part and parcel of the state,” he added.
Earlier, Lead consultant for the retreat, Dr. Ezekiel Gomos, delivered a paper on policy formulation and implementation.
The theme of the seminar is: “Getting Things Done, Effective Policy and Program Implementation.”