Ugwuanyi Swears in New Cabinet Members, Appoints Ex-Info Commissioner as CPS

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Thursday, September 26th, 2019

From Ignatius Okpara, Enugu

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Enugu state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has sworn in new Commissioners and Special Advisers just as he appointed a former Commissioner for information in the state, Mr. Chuks Ugwuoke as new Chief Press Secretary, CPS.

Swearing in the appointees at the government, Ugwuanyi told them that performance will be key and periodically benchmarked as a basis to remain in office, pointing out that his administration will not tolerate any corrupt practice, emphasising that their loyalty as public officers should be to God and the state.

He added that they “must at all times be seen to pursue honesty, transparency, accountability, equity, justice, fairness and unalloyed commitment to your duty in the course of your service to this state”.

The Governor, who had earlier in the day swore in Dr. Festus Uzor as his Chief of Staff, announced Mr. Chuks Ugwoke as his Chief Press Secretary, disclosing that “the Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Deputy Governor will be appointed in due course and all other appointments will follow suit.

He stated that “every Public Officer on this journey must wear his/her seat belt”, stressing that “our administration will be on fast track to deliver the public good to Ndi Enugu in the remaining three years, eight months and five days of this tenure”.

He therefore, informed the Commissioners and Advisers of the 3-day Policy retreat from September 26 to 28, which will take them through the government’s policy direction, adding that the appointees are expected to digest the sectoral recommendations applicable to their respective Ministries to keep them properly focused on the delivery of their ministerial mandate.

Gov. Ugwuanyi further disclosed that the work and recommendations of the 12 sectoral ad-hoc committees comprising highly experienced Technocrats, Professionals, the Academia, etc, culminated in his administration’s new strategic architecture with cross-cutting and sector-specific plans for advancement of good governance and optimization of service delivery in the state.

“This is intended to facilitate the fulfillment of our campaign promises and social contract with Ndi Enugu”, the governor said.

Congratulating them on their appointments which he said were based on their “individual competencies and capacities”, the governor, who reiterated his administration’s commitment to participatory democracy, emphasized that “you must have walked a tightrope of constituency consensus building around your choices given the inclusive and participatory approach adopted in your appointment”.

According to him, “I invite you to recall that our re-election victory was a referendum on our first term performance. We enjoyed electoral support that is unprecedented in recent history, scoring 95.54 percent of total votes cast in the 2019 gubernatorial elections in Enugu State. While this enriched our political and leadership credentials, it also put a burden of performance on us, for to whom much is given, much is also expected”.