SELF-TRACKING OF PROJECT: PLATEAU STATE GOVT RESOLVES TO ADOPT STATE MONITORING AND EVALUATION POLICY AND LAW

By: Valentine Adese (JP),

At the end of the retreat for Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, Advisers and Heads of Department/agencies, it has been resolved that, the Plateau State Government should adopt the State Monitoring and Evaluation Policy and Law to enhance self-track of projects of projects and programmes, resulting in quarterly review sessions going forward.

This is contained in the communiqué that was signed and issued by Prof. Danladi Abok Atu, the Secretary to the Government of the State, dated 22^nd December 2021, and circulated to Media houses in Jos.

You would recall that, As a way of establishing the level of implementation of the Plateau State Development Strategy, by assessing and evaluating the performance of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, the Plateau State Government in collaboration with GIZ organized a two-day Policy Review Retreat for State Executive Council Members, Permanent Secretaries, Chief Executives/Chairmen of Boards and Parastatals and Special Advisers to the Executive Governor of Plateau State on Tuesday 21st to Wednesday 22^nd December 2021, at the Banquet Hall, New Government House, Rayfield.

According to the statement from the office of the SSG, the event was declared open by the Executive Governor of Plateau State, Barr. Simon Bako Lalong, ably represented by the Deputy Governor, Prof. Sonni G. Tyoden, who appreciated the level of implementation of the resolutions contained in last year’s communiqué, where 12 resolutions out of 13 were already implemented.

According the the Government, “This success was attributed to the determination and synergy between Ministries, Departments, and Agencies”.

Other resolutions reached in the retreat include:

1. The Rescue Administration restated its determination to complete outstanding all critical projects currently being implemented, thus, all projects and programmes will be carefully prioritized to ensure that the identified critical ones are completed within the tenure of this administration.
2. All MDAs must put all hands on deck to ensure that the commitment to create jobs that will take 20,000 youths out of the unemployment market between now and 2022.
3. All MDAs to explore other alternative sources of funds for implementing critical projects and programmes. Towards this end, the option of Public Private Partnership and donor funding shall be embraced much more strategically going forward.
4. The four policy sub-councils to further meet before 31st December 2021, as syndicates to consider all inputs, recommendations and suggestions made at the retreat in order to review all the projects and programmes of MDAs under their respective purviews, with the aim of restructuring, rejigging and rescoping them within the time frame left for this administration, and to also come up with practical implementation strategies for delivering same.