Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has blamed the failure of some government programmes and policies on corruption and use of political associates.

Keyamo explained that in the real world, due to competing interest and the phenomenon called political patronage and perhaps corruption, non-professionals are sometimes deployed to execute programmes and projects derived from well-articulated policies.

As a result, the minister explained, very good policies that work excellently well in other climes fail. Keyamo said it was imperative that for national development to be orderly, progressive and qualitative, professionals should be deployed to do what they do best, especially as it concerns programmes and projects of government. The Minister spoke at the 10th annual summit of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) in Abuja.

He said under normal circumstances, government should employ the services of professionals to put together policies that will solve our problems and develop programmes and projects to bring the policies to life. Keyamo, who was represented by his Special Assistant, Niyi Fatogun, said sadly, due to political interest and corruption, non-professionals are deployed to handle government policies which usually lead to some of them failing.

He said: “In the real world, due to competing interest and the phenomenon called political patronage and perhaps corruption, non-professionals are sometimes deployed to execute programmes and projects derived from well-articulated policies. As a result we have seen very good policies fail. And these are policies that work excellently in other climes.”

He also asked professionals in the country to position themselves strategically so as to make it easy to be called upon by the political class in their choice of leadership. He said one of the ways to achieve this is to actively participate in the political process that bring about government.

He said: “For decades we have heard professionals say the political process is too dirty for them. Yes, one can imagine in those days when a top notch professional will have to go to Ibadan to play the Amala and gbegiri politics and get the blessings of the strong man of Molete, in order to become an active asset in Nation Building. Most of us know what that blessing sometimes entails and are not ready to undergo it. It sounds “gross” to put it in a common slang.

“However we must also realise that the policies and laws that drive our professional lives and make the society a better place for us and our profession is made by the politician who participates in the political process. This is why it behoves on professionals, like any other group, to actively participate in bringing about a government and be part of the government. That way we will always ensure that there is abundance of professional round pegs in politics to fill the round holes of political patronage. This makes the choice of whom to choose as it concerns patronage easier for the political class. Perhaps then the eternal discuss of putting round pegs in round holes will stop being an issue.

“The advantages to the country are also limitless. For one, the country gets at least two or more for the price of one, an administrator and a professional. It also means the professionalism deployed will make sure that the country gets value for its money. Policies formulated using professionals and programmes developed to bring those policies to life are better understood and better implemented. Professionalism in service will be the norm and so on and so forth.”

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