issues

Public Policy and the critical factors of time, skills, resources, and people

Recently, I have been meditating on the general concepts of Time, Skills, Resources, and People and how they interplay to produce desired outcomes. Initially, these thoughts were rooted in private considerations—how best to manipulate these factors for beneficial results. But, as is often the case, my reflections wandered to a familiar domain: public policy.

Having invested the last 15 years of my life working in, studying, learning within, and partnering in the area of government affairs and public policy, I can’t help but view concepts through this lens. It’s second nature for me to contextualize almost anything within the framework of public policy, whether or not they are explicitly connected. Interestingly, these four factors—Time, Skills, Resources, and People—are implied in almost every aspect of policy, yet they are rarely purposefully factored in during the pursuit of policy goals.

At a fundamental level, I believe exploring these four factors individually and applying them to public policy will be incredibly useful for anyone in this field—whether you work directly in public policy, study it academically, or intersect with it in a cross-functional capacity.

Also, since recent research suggests that the adult attention span now averages 8.25 seconds, I’ll present this exploration as a four-part series. My hope is that this structure will not only respect your time but also encourage deeper thought and engagement with each concept.

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issues, Naija, Spiritual

#HalleluyahChallenge #Olowogbogboro: What really happened?

Screen Shot 2017-07-10 at 8.53.56 PMA major mistake we might make is to assume that the many miracles and salvations witnessed with the #HalleluyahChallenge are the purpose and end-all to this spiritual movement. It’s almost like assuming that entering Canaan was the ultimate purpose of God for delivering His people from Egypt.

This will be a severe limitation of the Source of all Power. Thinking this way is not usually overt. That thought lies or is implied in the way we behave going forward after such a refreshing to the hearts of many. We move on to others things as though we merely visited the market, came home, put everything in the pantry and that’s it.

This will be a severe limitation of the Source of all Power. Thinking this way is not usually overt. That thought lies or is implied in the way we behave going forward after such a refreshing to the hearts of many. We move on to others things as though we merely visited the market, came home, put everything in the pantry and that’s it.

Spiritual moves are never like that. They are not momentary neither are they transient. Most times, we are limited in our understanding of the full scope of the Father’s intention when he initiates such moves. Let’s not forget that all prayers, revivals, refreshing, or any form of spiritual movements is first initiated in Heaven; born out of the Father Heart and Goodness. It is then committed, in partnership, to the hearts of “faithful men who will be able to teach others” (invite or reach others as the case may need).

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issues, Naija, Politics

But for a moment… Nigerian Youth and Politics. 

Since the events of the Arab Spring and its subsequent outcomes, there have been intense conversations around the participation of young people in politics. This is not the typical “register to vote” advocacy, it is the more deliberate and active engagement of youths in the process of seeking political power. Nigeria has also had its fair share of activation leading up to some major movements that have remained a thorn in the flesh of political power holders.

 

If one looks closely, you will agree that young people were the more potent variable in the formula that led to a shift in Nigeria’s political order. Truth be told, this shift was already silently frothing from the season surrounding the demise of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. What happened in 2015 cannot be clearly understood unless you look through the goggles of youth activation. Many will erroneously attribute that shift to the political wizardry of certain strongholds, the convenient alliances, or simply the response of a fed up public. Those in themselves are potent factors, but clearly not the major determinant of this shift.

 

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