The 2019 States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards will hold today at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The annual programme will have in attendance Yakubu Gowon, former head of state, who is the special guest of honour, as well as His Royal Highness, Yahya Abubakar, Etsu Nupe and chairman, Niger State’s Traditional Council, who is the royal father of the day.
Also expected at the event include the governors who have been nominated for the different award categories, members of the executive cabinets, members of the National and State Assemblies, members of the diplomatic corps, c-suits executives, among others.
The annual States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards was introduced by BusinessDay, Nigeria’s foremost source of financial and business intelligence, to promote good governance, transparency and accountability in the use of the nation’s scare resources.
The awards programme is meant to provide an independent assessment of state governments’ activities in a fiscal year.
The successful chief executives will be honoured in 14 different award categories. These include transparency in governance; fastest growing state economy; empowerment, poverty alleviation, defence of women and child rights; education development; agriculture development; healthcare; industrialisation and mineral resources development; rural and urban infrastructure development; security; skills development and job creation, as well as SME development.
“We need to create an enabling environment that will make businesses thrive. Good roads must be constructed. Schools and hospitals must be well funded,” Frank Aigbogun, publisher/CEO, BusinessDay Media, said.
“When these are done, jobs will be created, businesses will thrive, and in the end more revenue to government at federal and state levels through PAYE, direct assessment and other indirect taxes. With more revenue, state administrators will be able to execute more laudable projects and the cycle of prosperity continues,” he said.
The States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards came into being to provide an independent feedback mechanism to states on the different policies, programmes and projects of state governments and the effects such actions have on the socio-economic well-being of the residents of their states.
Parameters employed include the kilometres of rural and urban roads constructed within a fiscal year; the number of hospitals and primary healthcare centres upgraded, renovated and newly built; enrolment rates into public primary and secondary schools; performance in national examinations such as the West African Examination Council (WAEC); improvement in internally generated revenue (IGR); capital importation and foreign direct investment (FDI); the number of classrooms built or renovated; supplies of educational materials, among others.
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