Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has urged the newly elected local government chairmen in the state to be creative and innovative in their performance while focusing on optimising values that will create solutions through lean spending.
Mbah gave the charge at the weekend in Enugu at a three-day Enugu State Local Government Executive Leadership Retreat, with the theme, “Aligning Strategy for Sustainable Economic and Infrastructure Delivery at the Local Government Level.”
He reminded the council chairmen and their deputies that the euphoria of honeymoon was long over, saying it’s time to hit the ground running in their respective local governments.
The governor pointed out that everybody in the council areas was looking up to them to deliver on their promises which should take the path of a fast-paced governance model for their impact to be meaningful.
“When you develop your strategies, what will keep you moving is your love for your people. You must have a clear action plan. As a leader you must have measurable indicators. Your vision and action plan must be strategic and borne out of a framework that will guide your structure. In the private sector, you must have your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. The same applies to the public sector,” Governor Mbah added.
While tasking them on transparency, prudence, accountability and accessibility to the people, the governor reiterated that public money, which is not their personal property, must be used for the collective interest of the people.
Speaking on optimal performance, Mbah said the only way council leaders could transform their areas was through disruptive innovation, target setting, key performance indicators, frequent review and evaluation management and thinking outside the box to disrupt the status quo.
He insisted that the world is rapidly evolving through technology and innovation, stating that his administration was clear on its envisioned goals through its Statement of Purpose which embodied the ongoing 260 Smart Green Schools, 260 Type-2 primary healthcare centres,10,000km road construction, eradication of poverty through human capital development and empowerment programmes, deliberate state policies on making Enugu an investment destination, and huge investment in other capital projects that will make the state a hub of investment opportunities for the youth.
According to him, the little resources from the federal government were only a fraction of what the administration required to execute its ambitious plans leading to a creative alternative financing model where the government mobilises domestic revenues, radically cuts overhead costs, revamps dormant assets and eliminates waste in governance.
Earlier in a welcome address, the secretary to the state government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia, said the training was aimed at communicating Gov Mbah’s agenda and vision to drive accelerated economic growth and achieve a zero percent poverty headcount in the state.
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