The Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hotel Abuja will play host to Yakubu Gowon, a former head of state of Nigeria, HRH Aminu Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano, 18 governors and other distinguished personalities this evening as the much-awaited States Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards holds today at the nation’s capital. Yakubu Gowon is the special guest while HRH Aminu Ado Bayero is the royal father of the day.
State governors nominated for different award categories and expected at the event include Abubakar Atiku Bagudu(Kebbi State), Yahaya Bello (Kogi State), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger State), Okezie Victor Ikpeazu(Abia State), Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa State), Bala Mohammed( Bauchi State), Babagana Umara Zulum ( Borno State), Benedict Bengioushuye Ayade(Cross River), David Nweze Umahi( Ebonyi State), Adedapo Oluseun Abiodun(Ogun State), and Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola(state of Osun).
Others a re Abdul-lahi Umar Ganduje(Kano State), Kayode Fayemi(Ekiti State), Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde(Oyo State), Mohammed Inuwa Yahaya(Gombe State), Abdullahi Sule(Nasarawa State), Badaru Abubakar(Jigawa State), and Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki(Edo State).
The governors listed above were nominated for different award categories which include the Fastest Growing State Economy category, Transparency in Governance, Urban and Rural Infrastructure Development category, Education Development, Healthcare Development, Provision of Security, Agriculture Development, Youth Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation award category.
Read Also: Gowon, Emir of Kano headline BusinessDay’s Good Governance award
Rural and urban infrastructures development, agriculture, and provision of security award categories take prominence in this year’s event because of the roles those sub-sectors have played and will continue to play in Nigeria’s journey to becoming the indisputable economic powerhouse of Africa.
Businessday has used the annual State Competitiveness and Good Governance Awards to improve good governance, accountability and government’s responsiveness in Nigeria.
From the 36 states of the federation, the state governors who have distinguished themselves are nominated for different award categories after extensive research by Businessday Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU) and the field teams who have been sent to different states for on-the-site inspections and to get the views of the indigenes with regards to how government policies have benefited them.
The parameters employed for the assessment of the 36 states included IGR growth, capital importation distribution across states, unemployment rates Q2 2020, literacy rate 2019, Net Enrolment Rate 2019, the hours spent to get water 2019 and percentage of water in the state from piped and public water sources in 2019. Others are growth in local debt 2019/2020, growth in external debt 2019/2020, fiscal viability Index 2019 and the debt Income ratio in 2019.
