By Israel Joel
Plateau state Governor Simon Lalong on Monday said Corruption, lack of continuity in government policies, inadequate human and material resources, poor leadership programme, sectionalism and ethnic biases and lack of political will are some of the reasons attributed to the lack of effective policy implementation in the country..
He made this known while speaking at the inauguration of Senior Executive course 43 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategies Studies NIPSS .
Lalong said such reasons can by no means justify the enormous resources that are wasted and the attendant consequences to the nation.
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In his words “Today, some of the challenges we face ranging from insecurity, poverty, illiteracy, climate change, poor transportation, inadequate infrastructure, abuse of power, mistrust and intolerance, lack of adherence to rule of law among others can be traced to the inability to implement policies enunciated at various times.
He said that “For example, in the 50s and 60s, there were policies to administer our forests and its resources where the regions had Ministries of Forestry solely devoted to managing these endowments. Along the line, we lost track and scrapped them such that today, we no longer have such Ministries to focus on many of our vast forests. ”
Lalong further said that the result is that they have become ungoverned spaces where criminals are using as hideouts to terrorize the people. The same story is replicated in various sectors of the economy.
“For us to change this trajectory and get things done, we must make a radical shift where policies with timelines will be faithfully adhered to, no matter who is in charge. National aspirations should not be subjected to political, ethnic or religious biases that end up impoverishing all of us. We must look at the larger picture in implementing policies that impact the lives of our people today and in the future. Examples are all over the world for us to learn from.”
