Tony Blair, 2 U.S. Govs, Others For Governors-elect Induction

Former British prime Minister Tony Blair, two governors from the United States of America (USA) and other top global leaders will participate in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) 3rd governors’ induction on Monday next week.

The induction for the new and returning governors is the NGF’s flagship programme where the incoming governors are supported with special tools to usher them into office in a seamless manner and to assist them move away from campaigns to governance.

In a statement issued yesterday by the director of media and public affairs of NGF, Abdulraque Bello Barkindo, he said the president and commander-in-chief of the Nigeria Armed Forces is invited to give the keynote address to the gathering of governors including those that are already out of office.

He said the occasion accords the governors an opportunity to share experiences and compare notes to further strengthen service delivery to the Nigerian people at the subnational level.

Barkindo said “this year, 2023, the programme is holding at the Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja, with President Muhammadu Buhari as the special guest of honour.

“Speakers are invited from all over the world from among heads of governments, members of the diplomatic corps, captains of industry and other categories of guests who have accomplished and distinguished history of service to their people to inspire the governors to hit the ground running.

“On this occasion, the current Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams and two former American governors, Terry McAuliffe of the State of Virginia and O’Malley Martin Joseph of Maryland are gracing the occasion.

“Perusing their performance resume, O’Malley became renowned for reducing crime while McAuliffe focused on healthcare provision and education. Eric Adams, the Mayor of New York City, which, if it were a country, would have the ninth-largest gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $1.66 trillion, is visiting Africa for the first time, and is known to have applied digital methods to fight crime in NYC.

“Also expected to speak at the NGF induction is Professor Peter Anyang Nyongo, governor of the Kisumu County in Kenya who transformed Kenya’s hospital fund to a national health insurance fund, reduced poverty and brought Kisumu County to compete in poverty reduction, education and infrastructure with modern cities around the globe.

“Also invited to the NGF induction are former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, the secretary-general of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa and President William Ruto of Kenya,” he said.

Nearer home, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) Amina Mohammed and Dr Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank (AfDB), bring their experiences to bear on the occasion. They are all slated to speak to the event.

“Other speakers include the National Security Adviser, Major-General Mohammed Babagana Monguno, who will be speaking on managing security in the states, with Kaduna Governor, Malam Nasiru el-Rufai, Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba and the DG DSS among others, as panellists.

Barkindo further said another compelling engagement would include a topic on recruiting your team, vetting, ethics, staffing the Governor’s Office and identifying critical skills and capacity, which will be led by Governor El-Rufai as the lead speaker.

According to him, there will also be rich conversations on managing expectations and powering the bureaucracy to accomplish your agenda and balancing political appointees versus the civil service, among many other critical governance toolkits.

“The same Induction programme will also deal with how to seamlessly ease the outgoing governors to a life after office. The last two days of the week will be occupied by activities of the First Ladies,” he said.