Governor Alex Otti addressing the EXC Retreat participants
Otti charges EXCO members to develop robust, sustainable template for achieving 2025 governance targets
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has charged government appointees; public and civil servants to develop a robust and sustainable execution template for driving the attainment of Abia State’s strategic governance targets for 2025.
Govern Otti gave the charge during a two-day enlarged State Executive Retreat held at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia.
At the retreat attended by Commissioners, top aides of the governor, Permanent Secretaries and many senior civil servants, the Governor harped on the need for
members of the enlarged Abia State Executive Council to approach their assignments and governance with a sense of urgency.
Declaring open retreat, the first in 2025 organized by the state government with the theme “Sustaining Momentum: Accelerating Execution,” over the weekend, Governor Otti said that the retreat was designed as a leadership exposition, interactive session, and agenda-setting forum aimed at identifying operational bottlenecks and proffering solutions to ensure effective governance in the State.
He restated his administration’s commitment to raising governance standards above whatever had hitherto obtained in the state, emphasizing that every sector of Abia’s economic and social service ecosystem was crucial to the state’s development, as there was high expectation of the people on the present government.
The Governor who titled his speech: Eyes on the Ball,” said: “This administration is not going to be judged by the mediocre standards of the past administration because we were elected to raise the bar and raise it very very high.
“What we need to do in the course of this retreat is to see where and how our approach to the execution has deviated from the trajectory we seek to travel.
“The agenda for us all in this exercise shall be to collectively develop a robust execution template that will drive the attainment of our strategic governance target for the current fiscal year.
“This retreat has been set up to underline how we shall run as a government in the New Year. 2025 will be a crucial year for the State. So, we are required to exceed whatever we achieved in the past,” Governor Otti said.
He encouraged participants to use the retreat as an opportunity to assess deviations from the set trajectory and realign strategies for improved execution and called for open and constructive engagement among attendees.
Earlier, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Kenneth Kalu, said that the administration of Governor Alex Otti has gathered momentum in the several areas of infrastructural development, health, education, and other sectors, explaining that the retreat was geared towards sustaining the momentum.
Prof. Kalu said that the retreat was an opportunity for the participants to reflect and map out strategies to move towards achieving set goals of the present administration and urged them not to be satisfied at the level they find themselves at present.
In his paper presentation titled, “Enhancing Public Service Through Efficiency, Accountability, Transparency, and Impactful Reforms”, one of the resource persons and a former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, identified some challenges in the service to including lack of capacity, accountability, and transparency. He recommended capacity building, conducive work environment, and contract appointments to fill the gaps in the service
Mr. Orosanye stressed the need for staff auditing, identifying the competence gap, determining the size of the workforce needed, and embarking on training and retraining to have impactful reforms.
He said that there should be collaboration between the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Head of Service, noting that the friction between the public and civil servants could be minimized by acknowledging that they were working to achieve a common goal.
Some participants, including the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Sir Chris Onwuegbu, and his Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning counterpart, Lady Ugonma Jimonu, in their separate reactions, said that the retreat would galvanise and place top government officials on the same page as they strive to build a new Abia as envisioned by Governor Alex Otti.
The duo also reasoned that the retreat would reduce conflicts between political appointees and the bureaucrats, adding that they would be going back home to implement government’s 2025 policies and programmes with better understanding.
