Working with the government at any level offers innovators like me the chance to bring more impact and transformation than we ordinarily would in our fields. I strongly believe that the government, as an institution, is the greatest vehicle for systemic change and positive transformation one could ever find. Therefore, whenever I come across opportunities to work with any government body, whether locally or internationally, I am immediately struck with great excitement because it represents a great opportunity for me to learn from and contribute to the civil service in fields that are exciting and transformative to people beyond what my usual entrepreneurial endeavours entail.
One of my recent sojourns of such nature is to Adamawa State, which is fascinating for me because of its diversity, resilience and outstanding potential. I began actively working in Adamawa State a few years ago, with the international organisation, OXFAM, on a project in line with European Union’s support to food security and resilience in northern Nigeria where we deployed a mobile solution to integrating the agricultural value chain. We worked with field officers representing Fufore, Guyuk, Mubi South and Song Local Government Areas in Adamawa State to enhance their agricultural and agribusiness practices with technology.
However, my return to Adamawa State last year was towards a grander and even more exciting task. It involved a preposition to work with the state government to transform the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Development and Poverty Alleviation as well as the Wealth Creation Agency (PAWECA) with the general aim of reducing poverty and sustainably improving prosperity especially for the teeming young people in the State.
For some context, I was incredibly delighted to learn that the state government had established the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Development to help lay focus on entrepreneurship and technical skill acquisition. Having been non-existent until the Government of Ahmadu Umar Fintiri’s administration established it, the ministry has become a key pillar of the administration’s strategies towards economic development in the state.
The role of these institutions is as salient as it is needed in Adamawa State, with its fair share of youth unemployment, security and other challenges. It is, however, very evident that the Adamawa State Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Development, as well as the Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation Agency (PAWECA), can be adequately utilised in transforming the local economy, boosting youth entrepreneurship and drastically reducing unemployment in the state. But like most government institutions, this requires disciplined and dedicated efforts to achieve. Typically, where they exist, complex internal organisational challenges shackle the growth and efficiency of these types of institutions.
To understand this conundrum, I spoke with Adamawa State’s Secretary to the State Government, Malam Bashiru Ahmad, who is not only passionate about the issue but remarkably informed about local and global efforts around it and as such uniquely positioned to help chart a way for solving it. He reiterated Governor Fintiri’s commitment to solving youth unemployment and enhancing the local economy by boosting entrepreneurship. Malam Bashiru also expressed his ideas and understanding around reforming and improving the capacity of ministries and agencies of government, arguing that the desired transformation can only be possible by enhancing the culture of innovation, embracing the use of technology, and improving internal processes and procedures so that effective service and programme delivery can be achieved. This is because the challenges that most public and even private institutions seek to solve continue to generate demands that can only be met by technologically savvy, innovation-driven, forward-thinking, and efficient institutions.
In the course of the weeks to follow after this encounter, I also met the Commissioner of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, and Youth Development, Ilya James, and the head of the Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation Agency (PAWECA), Hajiya Aisha Bawa Bello, to examine what they have and lay grounds for developing initiatives based on global best practices.
We are to establish an organisational culture that is efficient and result-driven and equip the ministry and agency to become innovation-driven through the use of technology. In a demonstrable, result-oriented way we would also initiate human-centred design thinking among staff and optimise internal processes to ensure quality service delivery. Lastly, we will offer tools for the adequate monitoring and measuring of organisational performance of the ministry and agency. These will go hand in hand with already existing as well as newly-hatched programs and campaigns of the two institutions.
Governor Fintiri’s administration, by its sheer resolve and commitment towards capacity development in partnership with various global and indeed local partners like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Nigerian Content Development Board (NCDB), upgrading of vocational and fabrication centres like the Vocational Technical Training Centers (VTTC) after years of utter neglect, strengthening the technical departments of polytechnics and universities in the state and declaring free education in the state’s public schools including enrolling 38,000 Almajiri children back to school, I think will create a tremendous explosion of buried talent and potential that will certainly be instrumental to the development of the entire Northeastern region with all its peculiar social challenges.
I am also quite inspired by Governor Fintiri’s obsession with local content participation policies in all projects and programmes, which is evident in the governor’s drive for local content participation in the NEDC Rapid Response projects coupled with being the key galvaniser and pivot of the North East Governor’s forum.
As I landed this week in Yola, the state capital of Adamawa, amidst all these aspirations for the great Fombina, as the region is historically referred to, I was beset with a renewed melancholy at the loss of one of the greatest sons of Adamawa, and Nigeria’s foremost public servant and academic, Dr. Mahmud Tukur, who in his lifetime had epitomised a brand of active patriotism hinged on developing capacities of people and promoting values at all cost. May Allah grant him great rewards and enable us to fulfill his dreams and aspiration for Nigeria as a whole.
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