A 2-Day workshop on Institutional Assessment Presentation and Action Plan has ended in Abuja. In his closing remarks, the ALGON National President, Hon. Engr. Bello Lawal, represented by Engr. Ikenna Adikibe, the Deputy National President of ALGON, thanked the PACE initiative for promoting the lofty ideas of strengthening ALGON with standards and best practices. Hon. Adikibe pledged the cooperation of the Association through the support of its National officers (Exco), the National Executive Council (NEC), the Board of Trustees (BOT), and Management, to ensure that the 2-Day workshop would not be a mere exercise in futility but one that would be supported by the entire ALGON structure.
Earlier, the National Team Lead of PACE, Mr. Ifeanyi Peters Ugwoke, commended the ALGON President for his efforts to transform the Association with its members and noted that a roadmap and Action Plan were to be prioritized. He said that another primary objective was to determine whether ALGON was fit for purpose, with the capacity and capabilities to fulfill its mandate and perform its role and responsibilities effectively and efficiently, particularly with the expected increase in governance activities at the local government level necessitated by the Supreme Court judgment.
The workshop featured excellent presentations, intensive questions and answers, group sessions, working sessions, defining roles and responsibilities, overview, stakeholders’ reflection, drafting the reform work plan, roles of development partners, donor harmonization, and way forward. It was a very impressive outing, with both parties agreeing to work together to drive the program. The collaboration seeks to incentivize ALGON, deepening dimensions of its capacity aimed at building a robust ALGON National Secretariat, emulating the model of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF), UCLG-A, and SALGA, as an association that will be sensitive to its grassroots mandate.
Both parties agreed that the inflation realities and what each LGA can statutorily make available as monthly or annual dues need to be critically reviewed in line with current realities for both financial solvency of the association, which will be achieved through its members mobilizing support across the 774 LGAs. It was noted that the competitive nature of its support makes it imperative that ALGON intensify its responsiveness and networking to ensure that its efforts to access competitive incentives and assistance from organizations like PACE, alongside its foreign partners, are prioritized.
In attendance were other PACE team members, including Mr. Basil Obasi, Josiah Aramide, Rechael Illah, Enuwa Oboh Olusoga, and Chinedu Eze. From ALGON, those at the workshop included the ALGON National President and Deputy, Hon. Bello Lawal and Hon. Engr. Ikenna Adikibe-Imo, along with other national executives, including Hon. Anani Hamisu Mohammed-Plateau, Hon. Ilyiasu Zakari-Niger, Hon. Ojo Oluwasegun-Ekiti, Hon. Aminu Jauro-Taraba, Hon. Bukar Adamu-Yobe, Hon. Mohammad Dahiru Ambursa-Kebbi, Hon. Chief Isaiah Oworiedo Esivouwa-Delta, Hon. Chinedu Ekeke-Abia, and special assistant Hon. Chamo Bala Usman, as well as the ALGON Director General, Barr. Mrs. Evan Enekwe, Mallam Nuhu Ozigi (FCA) DFA, Dimeji Lamuren DDP, Lawal Ibrahim DDHR, Elder Otuonye TC, and Okafor Venatus (ADs), Gloria Emmanuel, Susan Enaru, and Tony Enoh.
