Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has reiterated his administration’s commitment to strengthening public institutions to minimise waste and ensure quality service delivery to the people.
He said the time had come to create viable institutions to guarantee good governance and avoid wastage of scarce resources.
The governor that the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning is central to all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government.
While declaring open a five-day retreat and training for 25 staff members of the state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning (MBEP) in collaboration with Olive Consulting Group titled: “The green cap vision and the seven-point policy thrust for inclusive budgetary engagement: The time is now for good governance on the Plateau.”
“We need to streamline all the line of activities because you discovered that we have a lot of overlaps, a lot of duplications which are totally unnecessary and that itself affects a lot of the budgeting process.”
“A typical example you have a road been maintained by ministry of works, road been maintained by ministry of Urban development, road been maintained by direct labor agency. You also have SUBEB building toilets, agile programmes also building toilets. Everybody wants to do everything,” he said.
“Governance is not about competition, it is about collaboration. At any point in time when you are trying to outdo other MDAs then you are not a team player. Budget and planning is a skill you must learn. Is not voodoo, rocket science or something that one can just pick by the street corner”, he stated.
Also speaking on the topic: “Untapped opportunities and area of linkages”, an economist, Dr. Uzochukwu Amakom from the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) said the retreat was a welcome development because a new administration is in place which will run till 2027, adding that laying this solid foundation, not just for the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, but also inviting all the other MDAs will enable everybody to know what the target are and how they are going to achieve them.
Similarly, the coordinating officer of Olive-Edge Consulting Group, Mrs Yilritmwa Goyol, in her opening remarks, said “this is a unique platform for networking with peers from MDAs, stressing that the diversity of experiences and perspectives that will be unearthed during the retreat will double as assets and conduits for interactive learning, and cross-functional collaboration.”