Welcome Address  Delivered by Engr. Ferdinand Azi @ Political Forum G50 Talkshow & 4^th Anniversary Celebrations Of The Forum Held on 24^th November 2018@ Sheraton Hotel Ikeja.

Theme : ‘Elements Of Good Governance In Nigeria’

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Political Forum G50 Members,

The Lead Moderator, Dr Austin Nweze (Patitos Gang),

The Highly Esteemed Discussants,

Guest Speakers,

Special Invitees,

Distinguished Members of the Press,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

INTRODUCTION

I  welcome all of you to this August event happening today, which is a significant milestone in our quest to sensitize the populace on the values of responsible leadership and good governance.

We thank God for the success recorded so far by the Forum despite all hurdles and adversities. Some of you may ask, why Political Forum G50 ?

Political Forum G50 was created out of passion for quality leadership and good governance in our beloved country, Nigeria. This forum was created immediately I returned to Nigeria, after my MSc Programme on Health & Safety at University of Birmingham, United Kingdom with just 50 people. The purpose was to promote good governance in Nigeria. As at today, we have grown in leaps and bounds with over 27, 000 professionals as members.

You will agree with me that the gap between the rich and the poor is so wide in Nigeria unlike the United Kingdom. Our collective voices could bridge the gap through continual sensitization and public awareness.

Many believe that Nigeria’s only problem is POOR LEADERSHIP AND BAD GOVERNANCE.  I am of the opinion that Nigeria’s problem is not just poor leadership and bad governance, but failure of the masses in telling our leaders how we should be governed.

Political Forum G50 is not a Political Party, it is platform to discuss critical national issues of leadership and good governance in Nigeria and possibly proffer solutions on the way forward.

Our core  OBJECTIVES is to promote good governance in Nigeria while OUR MISSION is to achieve good governance in all the three tiers of government.

The CORE VALUES of Political Forum G50 are :

• Integrity
• Accountability
• Transparency
• Fairness
• Competence
• Responsibility

It may interest you that we carefully picked this year’s theme; ‘Elements Of Good Governance In Nigeria’ to capture the current mood of the nation.

Without indicting or castigating anyone; I want to raise this trending news which is already in the public domains to buttress my point. The news headline goes like this : “N5.8bn Approval – House of Reps Insist Osinbajo Has Questions To Answer As Chairman of NEMA”

The Vice President might be sincere in granting approvals but I observed that PDCA cycle was lacking and this is the major problem in Africa. In my school days in United Kingdom, they spent 3 months to teach us the operations of PDCA module.

That was when it was newly introduced to replace POPIMAR; which is an acronyms representing :

• Policy
• Organising
• Planning Implementing
• Measuring performance
• Audit
• Reviewing performance

Let’s take a look at PCDA, which stands for :

1. PLAN – Identify problems and develop plans
2. DO – Implementation of the plan.
3. CHECK – Study and Assess if the plan is working.
4. ACT – Improvement, Continuous Monitoring and Supervision.

In Nigeria, we comply with 1 & 2 while 3 & 4 are virtually lacking. If Nigeria can deploy this module in all the three tiers of government; then we will be getting closer to freedom.

Please note that this is not just applicable to NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency) alone but all other areas of governance.

Recall the circumstances surrounding bailout funds and Paris Club Refunds released to the Governors; yet most of them are still owing salary arrears. With the implementation of PDCA module, you don’t release funds to Governors, Local Government Chairmen and other agencies without tying them to projects and developmental initiatives. Most importantly, continual monitoring and supervision are the panacea embedded in PDCA module.

In US, nobody releases physical cash to Governors in that way; they are meant to submit proposals which go through verification and appraisal stages handled by separate ministries and agencies.

It is pertinent to note that when money is eventually disbursed, the Federal Government will hold the State Governments accountable for those specific projects contained in their proposals.

Finally, I want use this opportunity to appreciate all the G50 Forum Administrators for their relentless efforts in keeping with the objectives of this laudable project.

We will equally appreciate our esteemed members who have been active and tracking our perceptions of a better Nigeria .

We must commend our  friends and well-wishers, who graced this historical landmark event.

Everyone here and those listening from afar, and those who contributed in one way or the other, we are grateful.

This event wouldn’t have been colourful without the Lead Moderator,  Dr Austin Nweze and discussants who have been overwhelmingly positive towards a better Nigeria.

We are also very much grateful and honoured to have such distinguished personalities and speakers. We all are part of the success story

Long live Political Forum G50

LONG LIVE, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Engr  Ferdinand Azi

Convener  – Political Forum G50