The governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has canvassed evidence-based decision making and building of strong institutions.
He said those were major ways the states could make the nation’s presidential democratic system work better for the people despite the present constitutional constraints.
The governor’s position was made known by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, during a panel discussion at the Annual Lecture and International Leadership Symposium of the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) in Lagos on Tuesday.
The programme, themed “Democracy, Governance and National Performance: The Mutual Relationship”, was organised to mark the 68th birthday of the Centre’s founder, Prof. Pat Utomi, and also featured the presentation of his latest book, entitled “Power, Politics, Public Policy Process and Performance.”
Responding to the question on whether the states have sufficient powers to be able to drive the fundamental change that they need to meet their social contract with the people, Onyia, who stood in for governor Mbah said: “There are fundamentals we must understand. While the politics is important, the politics of delivery is underpinned by the right policies. Also, having the right implementation culture is important.
“We have been talking about strong institutions for quite some time. So, what the present administration in Enugu State had done through our team was to identify that evidence-based decision making is critical.
“So, there is no way you are going to set out to achieve a level of very fundamental and irreversible change if you do not understand the fundamentals driven by empirical evidence,” he stated.
However, Mbah and other panelists, including the presidential candidate of the Labour Party and former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, former Governor Akwa Ibom, Obong Victor Attah; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senator Aminu Tambuwal; Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, among others, emphasised more constitutional powers and presidential support and cooperation to tackle insecurity in the country.
