Cross River State governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, today canvassed for total and absolute support from heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the incoming administration of Senator Ben Ayade.
Governor Imoke made the plea at the flag off a ten-day ministerial hand over briefing for the governor-elect by the MDAs.
In his remarks, Imoke explained that the briefing was to provide the bedrock for the incoming administration to stand on a firm footing in delivering on campaign promises to the people.
His words: “As you are all aware, elections were recently conducted in Cross River State and the outcome of those elections was a landslide victory for Prof. Ben Ayade. The people spoke gladly, openly and very vocally with the vote they cast. In speaking so, it is only natural that the expectations from the incoming administration led by Prof. Ben Ayade will be as high as the support that was given to him.”
Imoke reminded the gathering that “governance and the ability to improve on the lives and wellbeing of our people is, to my mind, the essence for seeking public office. Public office as I have said publicly and repeatedly too, is a rare privilege. There is no greater privilege given to man than that of serving humanity. For this, it is imperative that when an administration transits, we must provide all the support that is necessary and required by an incoming administration.”
He, however, decried some negative reports in some quarters blaming the state for not setting up as transition committee, pointing out that “In this period of transition, there is often a lot of bickering, lobbying, falsehood, misinformation from favor seekers, appointment seekers, all of them ready to do anything, including run down the administration just to be considered and favored by the incoming administration. Thankfully, the maturity of the incoming administration leaves me in no doubt as to the clarity of their vision and their mind.”
Continuing, the governor averred: “It also leaves me in no doubt about their capacity to improve on our own performance as an administration. Any good parent will want his offspring to do better than they did. That is why for us as a family, it is imperative that we give the incoming administration total and absolute support and that is why we decided to use this approach.”
He enjoined the MDAs to be factual and truthful as well as ask questions in order to offer insight on the principles of good governance, stressing that ”I expect your presentations to be factual, informative and extremely useful to the incoming administration.”
Imoke noted that the handing over notes will be the bedrock on which the incoming administration will stand on and hoped it would be completed before the swearing in because of its scope in the interest of the new government and the people of the state.
Imoke recalled the accolades the state has received as a result of the enthronement of good governance in the state, adding: “We believe that one of the best planned economies in Nigeria is Cross River and it is acknowledged nationally both by the National Economic Teams at the center as well development partners because we have gone into a great detailed exercise at ensuring that we can sustain the economy in the face of challenges.”
In his remarks, the governor-elect, Prof. Ben Ayade, commended Senator Liyel Imoke, for creating a strong economic base in the state, despite its lean resources which has made it a strong sub-nation within the nation.
Ayade enjoined participants to evolve a business model in which respective MDAs would generate its revenue to strengthen their financial base to move the state forward.
The Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Tom Ogar, said it was fundamental and important for the incoming administration to be briefed on the activities of the outgoing administration, its success, challenges and the way forward, even as he called on all MDAs to articulate their action plan.
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