by Kingseyi Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:32 pmABUJA-Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike on
Thursday emerged BusinessDay Newspaper’s
Best Governor of the Year 2017 while the duo of
Ibrahim Dankwambo and Rauf Aregbesola
bagged the Best Performing Governor, North and
South respectively.
The well-attended event which held at the
Transcorp Hilton Abuja attracted some first-
class traditional rulers including the Ooni of Ife,
Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi; the Emir of
Katagun, Umar Kabir, Emir of Misau, Ahmed
Suleiman and a representative of the Emir of
Bauchi, Galadima Saidu.
Publisher/chief executive officer of BusinessDay,
Frank Aigbogun, decried states’ over-reliance on
federal allocation, even as he called on states to
diversify their respective economies in order to
boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Aigbogun further harped on the need for states
to take advantage of their resource endowment
to complement the federal allocations.
This, he submitted, will end the monthly custom
of state executives looking up exclusively to the
Ministry of Finance for handouts.
Other award categories and their winners
included: Promotion of Made in Nigerian Goods
(Abia), Sports Development (Akwa Ibom),
Agriculture Development (Anambra), Tourism
Development (Bauchi) and Healthcare
Development (Taraba).
Others were Rural/Urban Infrastructure
Development (Enugu, Nasarawa, Kwara),
Transparency in Governance (Edo and Jigawa),
Peace and Security (Kogi and Sokoto) as well as
Education Reforms and Development (Ondo and
Kaduna).
Refering to the latest State of the State report
published by BusinessDay Research and
Intelligence Unit (BRIU), the publisher said: “The
IGR of the 36 sub national governments rose by
12% from N831.19 billion in 2016 to N931.23
billion in 2017. Twenty-three States grew their
IGR above the national average of 12%. This is a
laudable development.
“Indeed Nigeria is a country that is undoubtedly
blessed with significant mineral, agricultural,
natural and human resources. Each State has
comparative advantage in multiple areas, from
agriculture to minerals where there is increased
and sustained competitiveness through
economic development and growth.
“It opens up doors to self-sufficiency in the
areas of comparative strengths and bilateral
trade which can also be achieved with other
States in the area where there is need for
partnerships.
“Each State is naturally endowed with mineral,
agricultural and human resources. In the area of
human capital, we are 190 million – strong
population with over 50% of the demography
under the age of 30. Where each State
government fully harnesses and optimises the
resources available at their disposal,
competitiveness and good governance is the
result.”
The publisher explained that the event was
organised to celebrate governors who
distinguished themselves in all spheres of their
states’ economies, noting that in selecting the
awardees, both quantitative and qualitative
parameters such as active and well informed
state government website, evidentiary
documents reflecting the conduct of government
businesses were taken into consideration.
Thursday emerged BusinessDay Newspaper’s
Best Governor of the Year 2017 while the duo of
Ibrahim Dankwambo and Rauf Aregbesola
bagged the Best Performing Governor, North and
South respectively.
The well-attended event which held at the
Transcorp Hilton Abuja attracted some first-
class traditional rulers including the Ooni of Ife,
Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi; the Emir of
Katagun, Umar Kabir, Emir of Misau, Ahmed
Suleiman and a representative of the Emir of
Bauchi, Galadima Saidu.
Publisher/chief executive officer of BusinessDay,
Frank Aigbogun, decried states’ over-reliance on
federal allocation, even as he called on states to
diversify their respective economies in order to
boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Aigbogun further harped on the need for states
to take advantage of their resource endowment
to complement the federal allocations.
This, he submitted, will end the monthly custom
of state executives looking up exclusively to the
Ministry of Finance for handouts.
Other award categories and their winners
included: Promotion of Made in Nigerian Goods
(Abia), Sports Development (Akwa Ibom),
Agriculture Development (Anambra), Tourism
Development (Bauchi) and Healthcare
Development (Taraba).
Others were Rural/Urban Infrastructure
Development (Enugu, Nasarawa, Kwara),
Transparency in Governance (Edo and Jigawa),
Peace and Security (Kogi and Sokoto) as well as
Education Reforms and Development (Ondo and
Kaduna).
Refering to the latest State of the State report
published by BusinessDay Research and
Intelligence Unit (BRIU), the publisher said: “The
IGR of the 36 sub national governments rose by
12% from N831.19 billion in 2016 to N931.23
billion in 2017. Twenty-three States grew their
IGR above the national average of 12%. This is a
laudable development.
“Indeed Nigeria is a country that is undoubtedly
blessed with significant mineral, agricultural,
natural and human resources. Each State has
comparative advantage in multiple areas, from
agriculture to minerals where there is increased
and sustained competitiveness through
economic development and growth.
“It opens up doors to self-sufficiency in the
areas of comparative strengths and bilateral
trade which can also be achieved with other
States in the area where there is need for
partnerships.
“Each State is naturally endowed with mineral,
agricultural and human resources. In the area of
human capital, we are 190 million – strong
population with over 50% of the demography
under the age of 30. Where each State
government fully harnesses and optimises the
resources available at their disposal,
competitiveness and good governance is the
result.”
The publisher explained that the event was
organised to celebrate governors who
distinguished themselves in all spheres of their
states’ economies, noting that in selecting the
awardees, both quantitative and qualitative
parameters such as active and well informed
state government website, evidentiary
documents reflecting the conduct of government
businesses were taken into consideration.
