By Sunday Ani
Former presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and author, Chukwuka Monye, has called on Delta State Governor-elect, Sheriff Oborevwori, to focus on four priorities for socio-economic transformation.
Monye, a social innovator and founder of Ciuci Consulting, a leading indigenous multinational operations management firm, also said Oborevwori has an opportunity to rewrite history by creating an economy that would transform the lives of Deltans.
In a statement made available to the Daily Sun, Money, who is also the former Director-General of Delta Economic Summit Group (DESG), said: “Rebuild trust. Given the high level of trust deficit that exists between the constituents and their leaders, the first and most important thing to do is to rebuild the constituents’ trust in the government. This can be achieved by effective communication of the implementation of vision and development agenda, which must be simple to start with. It has become common for politicians to make promises before they are elected and thereafter, some are unable to deliver and others are unable to effectively communicate their achievements. In simple terms, do what you promised to do. Communication has changed. The communication requirements for serving a largely youthful populace are now heavily skewed to new media and capacity to provide information to an avid audience.
“Demonstrate commitment to inclusiveness. Forming a government that includes dynamic young professionals, and women, will display the state government’s commitment to inclusiveness; such a move will disabuse the minds of many about the idea that many leaders are insecure and afraid of engaging dynamic people into the government. Essentially, this will show that the government will source the best talents.
“Design and implement alternative revenue generating mechanisms. It has become evident that the state cannot depend on its federal allocation of an estimated N20 billion per month, according to a national daily; an amount that can be generated 20 times over by the private sector. For example, Nigeria is now a leader in Africa in terms of private equity fund size and number of transactions. Innovative products and asset classes can be set up through collaborations between the government and the private sector.
“Build a “professional” government brand. A key requirement for achieving some of the ideas already mentioned is that the government must be seen to be professional. In other words, it must be reliable and seen as the reference for operating at high standards. This would be a massive attraction to the state as it will put the state in a class by itself.”