The newly constituted Abia State Executive Council (EXCO) has given its backing to the projects embarked upon by the administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu since it assumed office in May 29 this year.

The EXCO ratified the projects during its inaugural meeting held Wednesday, a forum Governor Okezie Ikepazu used to charge the members to embrace team work and to put Abia first in all that they do.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the inaugural EXCO meeting, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Comrade Bonnie Iwuoha, who was accompanied by Commissioner for Works, Hon. Eziuche Ubani and Commissioner for Transport, Barr. (Mrs) Nnenna Obewu-Onwuka, said that the EXCO reviewed the report of the last Finance and General Purpose Committee (F&G) which has been dissolved.

“The Finance and General Purposes Committee was reconstituted with the Commissioner for Finance as Chairman,” Iwuoha said.

“Other members include Commissioner for Works, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice while the Secretary to the State Government would serve as Secretary of the Committee.

“The EXCO also reviewed decisions that were taken by the last F&G committee, especially as it has to do with the on-going projects, road projects in Aba and other parts of the state and other tools of government, and the EXCO ratified the committee’s report,” the Commissioner said.

Iwuoha, a former National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), also disclosed that the Governor stressed the need for the members of the cabinet to work as a team in order to achieve his administration’s development objectives.

“First, the Governor admonished the commissioners to work as a team and synergise with each other. He instructed that solo actions and individualistic tendencies should be done away with. He urged that people should make sure that they work as a team and the commissioners, in turn, pledged their commitment and loyalty to the state and to the government.

“The governor made it very clear that in all that members of the State EXCO would do, that Abia must be first at all times,” he added.

Dwelling more on the call for team work by the governor, the Commissioner for Works, Hon. Eziuche Ubani, noted that team work, apart from facilitating realisation of government objectives, would foster the practice of true federalism.

He said: “Everybody is geared towards that when the governor said ‘I value team work above everything,’ that is basically the theme of the governor’s address yesterday and that is the ideology driving his administration.”

According to the Works Commissioner, “Ikpeazu made the point that if you are the Commissioner for Works or if you are Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, you need to also find a way to assist the Commissioner for Finance about how to grow the revenue base of the state, so that people are working together all the time and not to meet only at the EXCO chamber.

“So that means that we all have to be very close and talk to each other and see how we can assist and cooperate with each other. There are also people who have competences that have not been placed in their own frontline areas of specialisation and then he said that ‘if you are an engineer and you have another portfolio and you see that there is something that you can do or contribute to the engineering area, don't wait until you get to EXCO chamber for the meetings, call your colleague and say, let us know what we can do together’,” Ubani said.

“The reason is that I think we have all come back to do some kind of intervention and the spirit of intervening in a place is because there is a problem. So, holding each other’s hands and then working together will as much as possible help us to turn the state around,” he explained.

He noted that the assemblage of people of diverse professional backgrounds implies the notion of federalism was taking root in Nigeria.

“We have men and women with very intimidating credentials who have been called to come back home to serve the state. Basically, people are going home to go and fix their states because what you see is that the notion of federalism is taking root. The concept of federating states is now beginning to become very real, so people are going back home, bringing their competences and resources, to see what they can do to help their people,” he added.

Ubani noted that the quality of the cabinet members was an indication that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu was serious about developing Abia.

In her contribution, Commissioner for Transport, Barr. Nnenna Obewu-Onwuka, assured that the team assembled by the governor would deliver, describing Ikpeazu as an action man who was well prepared to deliver a new Abia State.

The trio also assured Journalists that the Ikpeazu administration would run an open government that would make it easy for newsmen to access information and appealed for the sustained support and cooperation of journalists in the state.

•Photo shows from right; Commissioner for Transport, Barr. (Mrs) Nnenna Obewu-Onwuka, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Comrade Bonnie Iwuoha, Commissiner for Works, Hon Eziuche Ubani, and Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Godwin Adindu, during the briefing yesterday.

Update news