· Kenyan president, Ex-US governors, Mayor of New York, to participate
· Special supplement inside
By Laraba MUREY
The induction for the 18 newly elected governors begins Monday, May 15, 2023 in Abuja. The event, which is being organized by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, is the third, and will last the entire week.
The induction program for incoming and returning governors is the NGFs flagship program where the incoming governors are supported with special tools to usher them into office in a seamless manner and to assist them move away from campaigns to real governance.
President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to be the Special Guest of Honour.
The event is an occasion which accords the governors an opportunity to share experiences and compare notes to further embellish service delivery to the Nigerian people at the subnational level.
Speakers are invited from all over the world from among heads of governments, members of the diplomatic core, captains of industry and other categories of guests who have accomplished and distinguished history of service to their people to inspire the governors to put in their best in office.
This year, President William Ruto of Kenya, two former US governors, Terry McAuliffe of the US State of Virginia and O’Malley Martin Joseph of the US State of Maryland, as well as the current New York City Mayor, Eric Adams will also be special guests.
Also expected to speak at the induction is Professor Peter Anyang Nyongo, Governor of the Kisumu County in Kenya, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi the Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa.
Nearer home, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Director General of the World trade Organization, Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and Dr Akinwumi Adeshina, President of the African Development Bank, will also participate.
Other speakers include the National Security Adviser, Major-General Mohammed Babagana Monguno, who will be speaking on managing security in the states, with Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba and the DG DSS among others as panelists.
Another compelling engagement would include a topic on recruiting your team, vetting, ethics, staffing the Governor’s office and identifying critical skills and capacity, which will be led by Governor El Rufai as the lead speaker.
There will also be rich conversations on managing expectations and powering the bureaucracy to accomplish your agenda and balancing political appointees versus the civil service among many other critical governance toolkits.
The same induction program will also deal with how to seamlessly ease the outgoing governors to a life after office. The last two days of the week will be occupied by activities of the First Ladies.
