Tokunbo Talabi, secretary to the Ogun State Government, has given his counterparts in the South-West States the duty of developing short- and long-term strategies that will help the area reach the next stage of development.
At the second edition of the Secretaries to State Governments (SSGs) Forum on Thursday in Abeokuta, Talabi made this statement.
The South-West states should establish a common structure for the digitalization process, Talabi said in a statement made available to journalists on Friday. This will stimulate interconnection among member states and prevent effort duplication.
According to Talabi, the most recent meeting served as a wake-up call regarding the need for collaboration, cooperation, and knowledge sharing among the South-West states, particularly with regard to cabinet affairs. He urged his colleagues to take advantage of the opportunity to develop and put into action these strategies in order to help the region advance.
One of the resource persons at the event, who is from the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, while speaking on the topic: “The Nigeria State, Public Policy Implementation and the Challenge of Implementation”, identified lack of national ideological framework for understanding development as a bane engendering impactful developmental initiatives by government at all levels.
The government should have the political will and leadership sophistication to harness the best policy intelligence and expertise and channel funds and resources based on technical-rationale parameters, according to Prof. Olaopa’s theory. This would help address the trend of unfinished projects by States in the South-West.
He gave the South-West states the responsibility for implementing the necessary smart structures and procedures and overseeing the hiring of staff in order to create an intelligent combination that would enable effective service delivery in the public sector.
