Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State on Wednesday emerged Governor of the Year at the 2019 BusinessDay States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards.
Umahi, who is chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, was named winner of this year’s BusinessDay annual governorship award at an elaborate ceremony in Abuja which had in attendance Yakubu Gowon, former head of state, who was the special guest of honour, His Royal Highness, Yahya Abubakar, Etsu Nupe and chairman, Niger State Traditional Council, who was the royal father of the day, as well as Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State won BusinessDay Governor of the Year (South), Governor Muhammad Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State won both the Governor of the Year (North) and Most Improved State in Transparency in Governance, while Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State won award for the Most Improved State in Social Reinvestment, Defence of Women and Protection of Child Rights.
Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State got award for the Most Improved State in Social Empowerment & Poverty Alleviation, while Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State won the Fastest Growing State Economy award.
The Most Improved State in Education Development/Promotion of Made in Nigerian Goods went to Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu of Abia State, while Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State took the Most Improved State in Industrialisation & Solid Minerals’ Development award.
Also, the award for Most Improved State in Promoting Economic Emancipation and Poverty Alleviation was won by Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, while the Most Improved State in Security award was carted away by Governors Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
Other categories of awards won include the Most Improved State in Skills Development and Job Creation which went to Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, and Most Improved State in Social Empowerment/Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria clinched by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
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.
In an address, Gowon said governance at all levels is a serious business and governors are in a serious business which requires extra efforts to better the lives of the governed.
He described the States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards by BusinessDay as a call to more service for the governors who won the awards and commended BusinessDay for setting in motion a programme to recognise conscientious efforts to stimulate the economy.
The former head of state noted that for Nigeria to attain economic and political advancement, the country must take a cue from China, Singapore and Malaysia by putting in place strategic planning and implementation and infrastructure as well as ease of doing business to attract investors.
Frank Aigbogun, publisher/CEO, BusinessDay Media, in his remarks called on states to do more for the people even with their limited resources, noting that the people appreciate little value added to their lives.
He said if the governors focus on fostering rapid development, it would create wealth, reduce youth restiveness and enhance adequate security.
According him, such works as done by the governors, apart from creating wealth, would further provide jobs and create the enabling environment where businesses would thrive.
He noted that to improve the lives of the citizenry, the governors must take decisive actions to execute physical projects and to improve internally generated revenue, and move from recurrent expenditure to capital expenditure. This, he said, would foster health, educational and infrastructural development.
“My message to governors is to do the least possible and it will amaze them how perception will be shaped so rapidly and development can be achieved in states that they have been given mandates to govern,” Aigbogun said.
“I believe that the focus today is to not put too much on the Federal Government with the hope that they alone can develop the states. States governors and their local government chairmen should do the best they can do to make their states more developed, to make their hospitals safe, to make their schools as institutions where quality knowledge can be imparted. They should collaborate more to make their states better and in taking each other’s competitive advantage, leveraging and building on it, I believe our people will have cause to live happily,” he said.
He reminded the governors that the states collect a larger chunk of the federation allocation which vests on them high responsibility of delivering more.
Explaining the imperativeness of the awards, Aigbogun said the aim was to identify and reward governors who have worked tirelessly to fulfil the mandate bestowed on them by their people.
“This is an event for which we commit our resources singularly aimed at identifying and rewarding governors of states who tirelessly work to fulfil the mandate given to them by their people. What we do every year is to travel across the length and breadth of the country to monitor closely the work that is being done by governors in the states,” Aigbogun said.
“We believe in a country where the possibility of finding positive trends and development can emerge across the states, where actions, projects and catalysts by state governors who are doing their very best to improve internally generated revenue would move from preponderance of recurrent expenditure to growing capital expenditure, build infrastructure in the real sense, and commit to better education and healthcare service delivery among others,” he said.
In their separate responses, the awardees assured that the recognition will spur them to do more for the betterment of their states as well as the country.
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.
James Kwen, Harrison Edeh, Solomon Ayado & Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja
