Strengthened local governance structure, NIPSS course participants capable, says Osinbajo

The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has expressed optimism that the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 44 participants in the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), will produce workable implementations to strengthen local governance structures and its attendant effects.

Osinbajo spoke on Monday at the inauguration of the Senior Executive Course 44 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos.

Represented by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, the vice-president said that the theme of the course — “Strengthening Local Governance in Nigeria: Challenges, Options and Opportunities” — is for the SEC 44 to identify the challenges confronting local governance in Nigeria and opportunities it has to offer.

He said that there ought to be need for interrogating the existence and functionality of the local governance structures in Nigeria with the view of strengthening them.

He pointed out that this would bring about a clearly defined structure from the bottom to the top, eliminating obstructions and guaranteeing a free flow of communications and interventions from the top to the bottom and vice versa.

Osinbajo said that the course was comprehensively packaged to equip the participants for strategic leadership and critical thinking towards making Nigeria a far better society.

He enjoined the participants to do the needful in their interrogations of the theme of the course.

In his remarks, Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Benson Bana, in his address lauded the Nigerian government for investing a lot of resources in improving its people.

Bana said that the NIPSS is well positioned to produce high calibres of people from the various sectors of the economy who would drive Africa forward.

The Acting Director-General of NIPSS, retired Brig.-Gen. Chukwuemeka Udaya, in his welcome address, said that the number of participants had grown from 66 participants to 90 participants in line with the institute’s strategic plan from 2019 to 2023.

He said that NIPSS would be requiring a modest expansion of its facilities to cope with the increasing number of participants as a result of the increased demand of the programme.

According to him, the curriculum for the Senior Executive Course is broad based, rich, flexible and organised and the resource persons and course facilitators are carefully drawn from among the best within and outside Nigeria to meet the expectations of the course.

The high point of the SEC is the presentation to the president in council the report of the theme of course.

Udaya implored the participants to work hard to achieve strengthened “Local Governance in Nigeria”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the course duration is 10 months.