The Governor, Sen. Bassey Edet Otu has put forward the right foot to kick start the movement of a new transformed Cross River State that can accommodate everyone no matter the divergent interests based on political affiliation, tribe, culture, and religion.
We commend Governor Otu for passing the constitutional litmus test of the 60-day constitutional requirement to set up the State Executive Council. The act alone has isolated Otu from some Governors who did not come to the office prepared to serve and to hit the ground running.
Looking at the list, Otu must have consulted widely across the political divide to enable him to pick out the very best designates with a genuine desire to serve. Notably, a good number of them are greenhorns in government administration but will approach service delivery with a high quantum of enthusiasm and demonstrable capacities.
It is their set time. God has acted through the instrumentality of the Governor to bring them on board to serve the State. To that extent, petition writers and complainants should please, stop the ongoing distractions and drama.
The new Cross River State envisaged by Governor Otu certainly, will need diversified technocrats, human content developers/analysts, and public opinion engineers. No wonder, educational qualifications and abridged curriculum vitae were added for screening. It will no longer be business as usual.
One laudable and commendable feature of the incoming State Executive Council is the reduction of the number of Commissioners from previous 39 to 26. Right foot forward indeed.
The shrinking of the number of Commissioners will enable the Governor to focus only on key Ministries that can help drive his new vision of Cross River State that will be transformational and sustainable.
Secondly, the State is contending with a debilitating economy arising from the small Federal Government’s monthly allocations that hardly meet the running cost of the Government.
Otu, therefore, must have in his mouth what he is capable of chewing, a small, result-oriented, turbocharged, and focused State Executive Council.
All Cross Riverians will not be appointees of the State Government. Empowerment is the biggest asset of Governor Senator Prince Bassey Edet Otu and the selling point for the Government. There will be room for all.
To whom much is given much is equally expected. We welcome the Commissioner’s Designates as they stand on the threshold of history. It is not just the history of the state. It is also their history.
After swearing in and assumption of offices the bar for assessment performance against 2027 will be raised.
Barrister Ugoji Nwabueze is a former Senior Special Assistant to the immediate past Governor, Sen. Ben Ayade On Non-Indigene Affairs.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Ugoji Nwabueze, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.