EDITORIAL
This piece An Appraisal of the CEO in Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State: Planning in Review begins the second half of the 12 series editorial pieces embarked upon by #NegroidHaven and the TDN: https://www.facebook.com/314791978715840/posts/1222609127934116/
Recall that the first half bothered on leadership where —Supervision https://www.facebook.com/314791978715840/posts/1225950454266650/, Mentorship https://www.facebook.com/1014037398726428/posts/1741038049359689/, Support https://www.facebook.com/314791978715840/posts/1230750053786690/, Delegation https://www.facebook.com/1014037398726428/posts/1749033005226860/, Role Model https://www.facebook.com/314791978715840/posts/1235144693347226/, and Catalyst https://www.facebook.com/1014037398726428/posts/1753304144799746/ were the focus.
According to the Framework for Defining and Assessing Public Office Holder's Performance http://shorturl.at/uGMUX, management will encompass planning, organising, directing, controlling and administration. Today's piece is about planning. Albeit, it should be emphasised that by management it is meant: 'how well a public office holder can administer and control the affairs of the organisation', while planning measures the ability to effectively come up with a workable plan of action'.
Fundamentally, planning preoccupies itself with thinking before acting. Accordingly, it asks these 5 important questions:
- What is to be done?
- How it is to be done?
- Where it is to be done?
- When it is to be done?
- By whom it is to be done?
It can be safely argued then that planning has to do with defining the precise objectives of the organisation and the specific course of action to achieve the said objectives. For one to affirm that there is planning in a given organisation there are about 7 features to look out for:
1. Managerial function
2. Goal oriented
3. Pervasive
4. Continuous Process
5. Intellectual Process
6. Futuristic
7. Decision Making.
There are also steps in planning and they include:
1. Analysing opportunities
2. Setting objectives
3. Developing premises
4. Identifying alternatives
5. Evaluating alternatives
6. Selecting an alternative
7. Implementing action plan
8. Reviewing.
If you sit back and take a critical look at Cross River dating from May 2015 to January 2020, will you conscientiously say that the state is a function of planning? Granted that there is a Planning Commission, is that commission planning? What opportunities are there? What objectives have been carved out? What alternatives have been identified, evaluated and selected? What plans have been implemented? And to what extent has the implementations been reviewed?
Using the state appropriation laws from 2015 to 2020:
*2016 Budget of Deep Vision worth N350 billion,
*2017 Budget of Infinite Transposition peaked at N707 billion,
*2018 Budget of Kinetic Crystallisation pegged at N1.3 trillion,
*2019 Budget of Quabalistic Densification with the whopping N1.O43 trillion; and
2020 Budget of Olympotic Meristemasis fixed at N1. 1 trillion.
The question will be, were these economic projections a product of conscientious planning(s)? What were the opportunities these economic blueprints identified? What objectives were set? What premises were developed? What alternatives were identified, evaluated and selected? To what extents were these appropriation laws implemented? What intellection characterised the process? What was the level of civil society organisation and public involvement in the process? And What has Cross River achieved over these 5 years?
Looking at the industrialisation agenda of His Excellency the Executive Governor, Sir Ben Ayade as itemised thus:
1. Cross River Garment Factory,
2. Cross River Toothpick Factory,
3. Rice Seed and Seedling Multipliation factory,
4. Cross River Pharmaceutical Company,
5. Calabar Noodles Factory,
6. Calabar Chicken Factory,
7. Cocoa Factory in Ikom,
8. Rice Mill in Ogoja,
9. Piles and Pylon factory in Akamkpa;
Would we say they're plans in the right direction? Between 2003 to 2007 Cross River was on the path of being the tourism destination in Africa in the thinking of Gov Donald Duke; then between 2003 to 2015, in addition to tourism, Gov Liyel Imoke introduced rural development and agriculture : opportunities, objectives, premises, and alternatives were all engaged to implement these lofty dreams. Ayade then introduced industrialisation. In Ayade, Duke's tourism died, Imoke's rural development crash landed and the industrialisation does not seem like anything that will be successful. For instance, the signature projects namely, the super highway and Bakassi deep seaport are still in their paper work stages five years after. Post 2023, will the next governor continue with it agenda? What plan resulted in these twin ideas (including others) of Ayade?
Again, can we have industrialisation without infrastructural development especially at the rural level as Imoke initiated? Can't Duke's tourism sit side by side with Ayade's industrialisation? Was it a function of good planning to suffocate Imoke's rural infrastructural development and agriculture and Duke's tourism initiatives? What opportunities, objectives, premises, and alternatives led to the change in focus?
Has Ayade actually created industries or factories? If yes, what's the value chain? Who owns them? When will they break even? Are they sustainable? Are they currently viable? By 2023, to what extent will the Ayade’s industrialisation be implemented? In essence, I am asking:
- What objectives will Ayade's industrialisation achieve?
- How will it be done?
- Where will it be done?
- When will it be done? And
- By whom will it be be done?
- In the past 5 years, what quality of the objective has been achieved?
Is Gov Ayade a good planner? Has Cross River planned well between 2015 and 2020?
