From: Ali Abare, Gombe
Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State has urged local government council chairmen and relevant stakeholders to diversify sources of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to reduce dependence on monthly federal allocation.
Governor Dankwambo made the call, on Tuesday, at a two-day workshop for council officials as part of the Talba Good Governance Legacies and Political Stability in the state organised by Sa’da Summit Limited, in collaboration with the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
Represented at the event by his deputy, Charles IIiya, the governor said that over-dependence on oil revenue would no longer be sufficient to record more development at the grassroots and the state as a whole.
He urged participants at the workshop to make maximum the use of the knowledge acquired for the overall development of their respective local council and the state in general.
The governor also assured that the state government would continue to do everything possible to provide dividends of democracy to its citizens, while soliciting for their cooperation in supporting state government’s programmes by providing conducive atmosphere for the sustenance of good governance under his administration.
Leading consultant for the workshop, Dr. Sani Indabawa, a lecturer with the Bayero University, Kano, said that the objective of the workshop was to mobilise and give skills to local government officials on the role that they were expected to play in promoting and sustaining government legacies for the future.
According to Indabawa, “One of the challenges of politics and governance in this country is instability of policies and in governance, once something good started by an administration and is no longer in office, if another administration comes, they want to start afresh and abandon those projects.
“But there are policies, programmes and projects that are of high benefit to the people and so people in government most begin to appreciate that service is about continuity, creating condition for stability”, he said.
In his remarks, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Ahmed Walama, said the workshop was organised towards ensuring manpower development, effective and efficient service delivery as well as to realize political stability and governance continuity in development process.
He said participants were the 11 council chairmen, 11 deputy chairmen, 114 councilors, secretaries, head of departments, supervisory councilors as well as other stakeholders.
Walama added further that the workshop would enable participants to maintain and sustain achievement recorded by the present administration in the state.
“It is well known fact that for the LG to effectively and efficiently sustain and maintain legacies of this administration, the objectives of this workshop has to be fully applicable,” he said.