Rebuilding Abia is everybody’s responsibility – Commissioner
Abia State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu, has called for all hands to be on deck to make the efforts of the Dr. Alex Otti-led administration to rebuild the state a success.
Uzor made the call when he received in his office, members of the State Working Committee (SEC) of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abia State Council, who paid him a courtesy visit on Thursday, August 17, 2023.
The Commissioner maintained that to achieve a new Abia, everybody in the state, from the Governor, down to the masses, must make a commitment to make the necessary sacrifices.
Abians, he added, need to imbibe the orientation of doing things differently in this era while people must always stand for the truth, stressing that things went bad in the state because people failed to speak up and do the things they were supposed to do at the right time; assuring that the administration of Alex Otti has come to change all that by driving a new orientation.
“We (Alex Otti government) are coming with the mantra of a new Abia. We want to change the things that we believe that have gone wrong for too long in our state.
“If there was no reason for change, I believe that Dr. Alex Otti wouldn’t have been fighting to come into governance; the reason why there has been a battle to come into governance is that he believed that a lot of things have gone wrong and then we need to change the narrative.
“If Abia is in the doldrums, everybody is part of the blame because it means that those who are journalists who should have spoken did not speak when they ought to speak; those who are Auditors who should have insisted on the standards did not do it; those who are Commissioners who should have done things right, didn’t do those things well; those who are Police; in every strata failed to do the right things.
“You find out that people who ought to stand for the people, stand for the truth, did not stand. People – civil servants, traditional rulers – do not talk because they don’t want to lose their positions. So people who should speak do not want to speak and so you find out that society is going down, everything is being destroyed.
“But if you say look, we need to build, then we now begin to stand and say, look, we can’t go in this direction, let’s do something different, for the good of our place, for the good of our state, so that we move forward,” the Commissioner said.
He noted that NUJ would play a critical role by keeping people informed about the new way of doing things which Governor Otti was bringing on board.
“We need NUJ as much as is possible because if there is anything that we want to achieve in Abia, it has to be through the channel of new orientation. What it means is that in order to drive the vehicle of change, information is critical, you must let the people know what you are doing, you must let them understand where you are going. A leader who has no followers is only taking a walk; people must follow you. And for people to follow you, they must understand what you are doing and where you are going. And that is the change we are bringing, that Abia will get to the Promised Land and truly become God’s Own State. And that cannot be achieved without your partnership as journalists,” he said
“You are critical in all we are doing, in all sectors. So, I’m happy to receive you, I’m happy to be part of you. We are glad to work with you in our efforts to reposition Abia State,” the Commissioner added.
He challenged journalists in the state to delve into investigative journalism to unearth things that are going wrong, even in the Dr. Alex Otti’s administration.
Earlier, Chairman of Abia, NUJ, Comrade Victor Ndukwe, said the visit was to seek strategic partnership with the Ministry because journalists could access information from the communities and local governments which were under the Ministry and, by so doing, expose the rich potentials of the state.
Ndukwe said journalists in the state were determined to put Abia first and would do their best to change the negative narrative of the state through quality and objective reportage and congratulated the Commissioner on his appointment.
In a Vote of Thanks, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the NUJ National President in charge of South East, expressed gratitude to the Commissioner for receiving them, adding that such openness on the part of government officials would enhance the job of journalists in information dissemination within and outside the state .
