By JACKSON EKWUGUM
From the time in 1933 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of America's most revered presidents pushed through 15 bills in a three-month period, the 100-day concept has become a standard measure of leadership and governance by the media, public and political analysts. Of course, there is nothing magical about the number. And there is some sense in the argument that the 100-day concept can sometimes be an artificial yardstick and therefore, misleading. But it also true, as the Yoruba proverb says, that it is from the morning you know what the day will be like. So, while the 100-day concept might not be a perfect measure, it's helpful in gauging the policy direction and the potentials of a leader's success.
Leadership experts tell us that five elements must be in sync for an organisation or government to succeed. These are strategy, structure, systems, skills and culture. We have seen all these in manifestation in the first 100 days of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa's administration in Delta State. It has been a period of critical thinking, strategic planning and focussed action.
As promised, the governor "hit the ground running" when he presented two bills to the Delta State House of Assembly within 48 hours of assuming office. The Delta State Capital Territory Agency Development Bill, 2015, and Technical and Vocational Education Board Bill, 2015, were passed by the House within the first week of Okowa's administration.
This was a superb demonstration of a leader who has done his homework and has a clear vision of what he plans to do in office.
The establishment of Delta State Capital Territory Agency is in furtherance of the Governor's promise to embark on comprehensive urban renewal during his tenure. Among other things, the agency is to "formulate policies and guidelines for the development of the state capital territory; conceive, plan, and implement, in accordance with the set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the sustainable development of the state capital territory and prepare master plans and schemes designed to promote the physical development of the state capital territory as well as tackle ecological and environmental problems." The Agency is expected to address the peculiar infrastructural and environmental challenges of Asaba and transform it into a befitting capital city.
Throughout the electioneering campaign, Okowa constantly made the point that technical education was the key to unlocking the potentials of our unemployed youths. He decried the collapse of technical education in the country, and bemoaned the current situation where many of the artisans in our society are from neighbouring countries while the army of unemployed Nigerians was swelling on a daily basis. He promised to breathe new life into the state's technical colleges and infuse them with modern curricula to "empower our people with the requisite knowledge and entrepreneurial skills for business, trade, and commerce." The Bill on Technical and Vocational Education Board has been formulated to achieve just that.
Governor Okowa inherited a troubled economic situation that threatened to derail the administration's S.M.A.R.T agenda. With a massive debt overhang of over N600b vis-Ã-vis dwindling receipts from the Federation Account, something drastic needed to be done to prevent the economy of the state from imminent collapse. The policy response to the crisis has been bold and decisive. Aside from renegotiating the bank loans, the Governor undertook a downward review of the 2015 budget as approved to bring it in line with the current economic realities, suspended recruitment into the civil service and adopted a phased-out approach to constituting his cabinet to cushion the financial burden on the state.
Governor Okowa's regime of fiscal discipline and prudential rules are having the desired impact on governance. Local government workers who went on strike months before he assumed office returned to work while civil servants have been getting paid regularly. It is a testament to Okowa's stringent managerial template and political sagacity that the administration is forging ahead with developmental projects despite the lean purse of the state. Currently, three technical colleges in Agbor, Ofagbe and Sapele are undergoing extensive infrastructural overhaul. Two General Hospitals in Patani and Abavo are being renovated while the rebuilding of the Sapele Main Market is nearing completion. Extensive repair works are also on-going at Okpanam road in Asaba and other major roads in the state.
In keeping with his campaign promise to pursue a legislation that will support and promote Universal Health Insurance Policy for all Deltans, the Governor has forwarded the Delta State Contributory Health Commission Bill to the State House of Assembly. The bill is currently for second reading in the House and is expected to be passed into law in the course of the year. As the governor told members of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria recently, "it is expected that increasing health insurance coverage in Delta will significantly increase the demand for health services, which will in turn require expansion of service delivery facilities and personnel and increase the need for standardisation and enforcement of quality."
But by far the biggest news of Okowa's first 100 days in office is the launch of five entrepreneurship programmes under the state's Job and Wealth Creation Scheme namely; Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP); Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP), Production and Processing Support Programme (PPSP); Development of Agro-Industries and Extension of Microcredit. Dubbed OkowaPlus, the objectives of the scheme is to create jobs and wealth, diversify the economy, engage youths in productive enterprises, nurture entrepreneurs and leaders and promote communal peace and security.
Unlike youth empowerment programmes that people are used to, OkowaPlus seeks to produce wealth and job creators through a rigorous and elaborate entrepreneurship training programme designed to equip participants with life skills, imbue them with leadership attributes and wire them for sustainable outcomes. While inaugurating the scheme last week, Governor Okowa noted that "critical differences" exist between OkowaPlus and other youth empowerment programmes "in the selection and screening process, training approach, management system, and collaboration with the organized private sector. This scheme is not your typical empowerment programme that is often cash based; it is a wealth and job creation scheme, it is not about skills acquisition; it is about building a knowledge economy and the overarching goal is to equip participants with the technical know-how, vocational/technical skills, values and resources to become both self-employed and employers of labour."
At the orientation camp for YAGEP and STEP trainees, participants were taken through modules in mind-set change, problem solving, personal branding, leadership development and resource mobilization. After the orientation, participants will be taken to various skills training centres to acquire vocational/technical skills.
Thereafter, they will embark on internship in an existing business set-up. The last week of the training will take them back to Songhai-Delta where they will be tutored on the art of entrepreneurship and practical business management. Depending on the vocation, the scheme will start turning out graduates from as early as three months when they will be given starter packs to start their various enterprises. This unique model and the transparency in the selection process have been hailed by participants and stakeholders as a more enduring approach to the issue of economic empowerment. The state's chief job creation officer, Professor Eric Eboh, explained that the trainees were selected through "three successive stages of open, transparent and objective screening" as instructed by the Governor.
"First, we conducted an open, transparent and inclusive application process, as evident in the fact that the form was obtainable online as well as through community, political leaders and traditional rulers throughout the state
"Second, we carried out a prequalification exercise based on objective eligibility criteria;
"Third, we used a neutral scientific sampling method that was computer-based to trim down the number of pre-qualified applicants to a manageable shortlist,
"Fourth, we conducted interviews in three centres in each of the three senatorial districts to score the shortlisted applicants on key parameters (5 Cs) – communication, content (that is, basic knowledge of the subject matter), comportment, confidence and conviction.
"Fifth, we applied the principle of cut-off line, by sorting the applicants in decreasing order of performance at the interviews and selecting from the highest scoring applicant downwards until we got the target number of applicants for each of YAGEP and STEP
"We went through these steps so as to ensure that the programme includes only youths that are willing, interested and passionate to become entrepreneurs.
Our selection process has thrown up an inclusive crop of trainees from among the population of applicants. Today, we are satisfied that the crop of trainees reflect a diverse mix of persons in terms of age, education background, academic qualification, gender, socio-economic status and skills preferences. In fact, among the trainees, we have nursing mothers and the physically challenged."
Governor Okowa's cabinet and other political appointees so far are a rare combination of new faces, experienced technocrats and grassroots politicians. This robust admixture is expected to ensure stability in governance and consolidate the system for greater efficiency and seamless transition from one generation of leaders to another. I have often heard people complain that the Governor is recycling some old politicians but they forget that "no man was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life, as not to receive new information from age and experience" (Jonathan Swift). The way I see it, experience never goes out of fashion and as Ernest Hemmingway points out, "the error of youth is to think intelligence is a substitute for experience."
Besides, it is a plus for the Okowa administration for men and women and even peers of the governor, who have served at the federal and state levels to accept to serve under him. It is a profound tribute to his leadership qualities.
To pre-empt relapse into violent conflict in the state, Governor Okowa constituted a 31-man Peace Building and Advisory Council in pursuance of his vision for political and economic stability. Among other things, the council is mandated to "study the general socio-economic and political situations in the state and advise government on issues that can lead to healthy relationship between the Executive arm of government, the Legislature and the Judiciary; study the causes of conflicts among the various communities in the state and advise on measures to effectively mitigate them and advise on appropriate peace building mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of the various peace programmes of government.
After the first 100 days, it's crystal clear to political observers, including the die-hard cynic, that indeed Governor Okowa is a man of his words as his traditional title of Ekwueme 1 loudly proclaims. His five-point agenda of wealth creation, peace building, agricultural reforms, educational and health advancement and urban renewal have all received considerable attention within his first 100 days in office.
What remains now is for our people to realize that it is no longer business as usual. There needs to be a value reorientation across board for our people to have a mind-set change about politics and governance.
Governor Okowa is determined to steer the ship of the state aright but he needs the support and cooperation of all. Everybody must be ready to make the necessary sacrifices for the state to move forward. The era of impunity and financial profligacy is over.
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