03/06/2022
Backgrounds To Categories of Sectors For Problem Identification
Need Assessment Compass is, basically, expected to guide the policy and programme direction of government so that values are not, wrongfully, allocated in governance. Many of government's failures result from the inability of policy response to meet with predominant issues of perceived priorities which breeds lack of confidence on the government. For problem identification and need assessment to be thorough, the process must be all-inclusive and all-involving whereby, people from various backgrounds, areas and sectors are actively involved in the problem-seeking-process because, they are the ones that are directly affected by these problems. Governments, at all levels, must demonstrate compelling adherence to the people’s set of preferred values by, painstakingly, collating all the problems/needs presented by the people. This is the most important aspect of the input component in the problem-solving or policy making process. Here are backgrounds to some of the key-sectors that all the problems are categorized into.
ONE:
Crime And Insecurity
Everyday in our shared society, the fear of crime and security tension do rob law abiding citizens of their liberty and create worrisome tensions that are avoidable. And in most times, the exhaustive strategies of security providers appear very ineffective for lack of significant results. This, often, leaves the government very frustrated. The issue of crime and security challenges are usually very delicate and critical because they directly affect the freedom of the living, fundamental human rights and the functionality of government. It should be known that the liberty of man comes not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God which makes it inalienable to man. Consequently, authorities must not see the protection of this liberty as a favour, but as the people’s right.
Therefore, government must develop and advance strategies that are driven by the framework of military, political and economic consensus to be able to contain crime and security challenge which continue to wreak havoc on human society and denies the people of their inalienable rights to liberty. If government fails in its responsibility to address issues of security concerns, social sanity would begin to drift and decline until the entire society is plunged into anarchy and chaos.
TWO:
Educational Problem
Every society covets overall advancement and development, but not all societies have succeeded in accomplishing such desires. As a matter of fact, only very few have attained reasonable height in this regard. Societies that have remarkably recorded impressive scales of advancement are those that place very high and uncompromised premium on education. The place of education in the overall refinement of modern societies is prime. Through deep and tortuous researches that subsist on education, many discoveries have been recorded in human history to improve and better the lot of humans. Because, without these researches with resultant inventions and discoveries, many of the natural resources that lay beneath earth's belly couldn't have been discovered. We still remember how the discovery of splitting atom has changed the course of global history forever.
Consequently, we can boldly establish that the future wealth of our society does no rely on the finite mineral resources and non renewable fossil fuel that lay beneath our soil, but upon the minds of the people because when these resources are exhausted, humans have to rely on their minds that have been developed through education. Today, human society has made an entry into an era of surpassing technological triumph on account of education.
Moreover, education has the potential to shape values and improve on the people’s cognitive content (general beliefs). It therefore, behooves on authorities to improve on standard of schools through facilities’ upgrade and remodel curricula to address the character component of individuals by exploring all the domains of learning so that while social reproduction prospers, learning and character of the people could approach each others positively and the society becomes a better place for all.
THREE:
Unemployment Challenge
The trend of jobless-growth-trajectory, mostly in frontier societies, has been one of the deep-seated structural factors that ignites poverty, hardship, crime and other related security challenges. Most times, the hindsight and policy implications of employment-ban become so extensive that it can hardly be managed. It was for this reason that Prof Ayade lifted the ban on employment in Cross River State, some years back. This policy move was widely celebrated as an intervention that signals great relief.
Of course, the core concern of every responsive administration must be dominated by the burden of removing every road-block that slows economic growth, and here in our own society, high unemployment rate has become one of the thickest roadblocks to overall growth and progress because of its hydra-headed negative consequences. If an administration must succeed, such must be resolute in meeting-up with its obligation of fulfilling the government's part of the extant social contract with the people and for any administration to fulfil its part of the social contract, it must allocate values based on the honest needs and prudent safety of the people. Once this happens, the people, naturally, reciprocate through support and earnest compliance to law.
FOUR:
Health Sector
In our unprivileged society, the cost of health care often devastates families and threaten to bankrupt many of our enterprises. This often makes the people become increasingly despondent of the possibilities of accessing quality and affordable health care services. This is further compounded by the decay in health facilities, shortages or non availability of essential drugs to assuage the health plights of the common man, and the outbreak of strange pandemics that often leave healthcare providers frustrated. It was in seeking to address these health care challenges that led to the birth of an affordable health insurance scheme by Governor Ayade, known as AyadeCare, the establishment of the first indigenous Pharmaceutical Company, known as CalaPharm, the building of hospitals and renovations of other cognate health facilities and the Mediatrix Foundation run under the office of the First Lady.
This compound health solution architecture is a remarkable departure from the weary path of rot where our health system had navigated for ages. In continuity, the incoming administration of Prince Otu is going to sustain on these structures and in addition, import foreign initiatives from advanced societies to, internationally, standardize operational practices in the Cross River State Health Sector. It is time for us to take a break from this swish about politics and begin to think of an overall reborn of our society.
FIVE:
The Problem Of Intercommunal Crises
While other factors usually constitute negligible percentage, most inter-communal skirmishes are often provoked by boundary related disagreements. Intercommunal crises often leaves mutual suspicions and misgivings amongst communities in its wake, even after peace is brokered.
There is no singular local government in Cross River State that is not, one time or the other, involved in Intercommunal war and the corollaries of these wars are often devastating on the economy and social life of the people involved. Most times, innocent neighbouring communities are often caught in the Cross fire of offensives and suffer huge casualties in the course of mutual aggression between two conflicting neighbouring communities.
It is frustrating that the many strategic modalities adopted by government at various levels have yielded very little or no results, as the importunity of these needless wars continue to take priceless tolls on our society and create more tensions.
SIX:
The Problem of Investment-decline
Research has revealed that the strength of any economy is dependent on the rate of Foreign Direct Investment flow and how domestic investment, be it large, small or medium scale, thrive in complementary propulsion. When an economy is on its lowest ebb, its sustainable recovery prospect lies in both real and human capital Investment. Available records suggests that global cross-border-investment finance deals to developing economies, which is an important source of investment in projects like Deep Sea Ports and dams, continue to slide for reasons that those economies are heavily debt ridden and are already struggling from the strangle-holds of insolvency which make them not able to meet-up with the bond raising conditions of guaranteeing such foreign Investment.
Also, domestic Investments are often discouraged by unfavourable environments created by authorities. For instance, when for some reasons, the government decides to swing to the contractionary wing of the fiscal lever, as a policy, taxes will be increased and domestic Investment is going to be greatly discouraged.
SEVEN:
Industrial Development
Advanced economies, allover the world are, basically, driven by industries. Economic growth is measured by how much a national or sub-national entity produces in relation to what it consumes. If what is produced is more than what is consumed then, there is a likelihood of economic development and vice versa if there is a converse swing.
We are all aware how industrial revolution shaped the entire economy of Europe and by extension, the entire global economy. Europe was like any other society until the advent of industrial revolution that came with a dramatic transformation in her economy. Europe became so powerful because of her industrial formations and continued to evolve until the emergence of multinational giant conglomerates were able to spread across globe and even shape strategic outcomes of their weaker host societies.
Until a society indicates the desperate willingness to take a flip-switch from being a consumer economy to being a producer economy, it will continue to remain economically weak. The level of a country’s GDP remains the basic indicator for measuring economic growth.
Let us not deepen our analysis to the very core of macro-economic details, but the point we are driving home is that Industrialization is the main engine that drives the economic growth of any society, be it national or sub-national entity. Down here in Cross River State, our economy has evolved from plantation economy, to tourism economy and now, to industrial economy that have seen sprouts of industries spread across the entire landscape of the state under Governor Ben. With 29 industries, it is expected that economic fortune of the state is going to experience a dramatic leap.
EIGHT:
The Importance Of Infrastructure
Infrastructure plays a very critical and strategic role in the development of any region. The absence and decay of critical infrastructure such as access road, affordable housing and efficient social services has hindered our collective drive towards rapid rural transformation and vision for industrial development. Poor state of rural and urban roads calls for much concern as it has reduced our quality of life, discouraged investors and posed very serious challenges to our development vision.
The era of Prince Otu in government is expected to birth a new agenda that will prioritize infrastructure by rapid engagement of the private sector and best practices to ensure that the gap in this sector is reduced significantly. Emphasis should be placed on strengthening existing structures to ensure maximum delivery of expected mandates in urban road construction and rehabilitation, rural access road and mobility, affordable housing, efficient and reliable power supply as well as total reforms in our social services. Considerably, the issue of erosion control, environmental and waste management is equally of significant importance to infrastructure as the need to harmonize development efforts continues to remain a top priority and absolutely non negotiable.
-squad Eval Asikong
