Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, on Tuesday announced the creation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, as he rejigged his cabinet, swearing in a new Head of Service, six new commissioners, and reassigning three others.
The new Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources may have arisen following the state’s investment in the power sector as well as the prospectives in the mineral sector of the state.
The exercise, which was the first since Mbah became governor over two years ago, saw the new ministry being assigned a Commissioner, along with other ministries whose Commissioners resigned some days ago or had operated for some time without a substantive Commissioner.
For instance, while the Commissioners in the Ministries of Labour and Productivity, as well as Commerce, Trade and Investment, resigned recently, the vacancy in the Ministry of Information and Communications has remained since the occupant left last year to contest local government elections.
That of the Ministry of Housing was also overseen by the State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But on Wednesday, Mbah moved to strengthen his administration by swearing in Dr. Godwin Anigbo as the new Head of Service; Engr. Benjamin Osita Okoh as Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure; Prof. Benedett Ekwutosi Okoli as Commissioner for Human Development and Poverty Eradication; Enyinna Franklin Ogbonna as Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources; and Dr Samuel Ogbu-Nwobodo as Commissioner for Trade, Investment, and Industry.
Others are Prof. George Ugwu, Commissioner for Health and Engr. Ben Collins Ndu Jr., as the Commissioner for Water Resources.
Dr. Felix Nnamani was reassigned from the Ministry of Water Resources to the Ministry of Labour and Employment as Commissioner. Dr. Malachy Agbo was reassigned from the Ministry of Human Development and Poverty Eradication to the Ministry of Information, while the former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Gerald Otiji, is now the Commissioner for Housing.
Speaking on the occasion, Mbah charged the appointees to hit the ground running, stressing that there would be no “honeymoon period” for them.
He said the administration had in two years steered high expectations among the people of the state as well as Nigerians in general and could not to lower the its performance across sectors.
“You will soon notice that here in Enugu, we have set such a high expectation among our people. And everyday it feels as though we are presenting a scorecard.
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“Therefore, you have to hit the ground running, as there will be no honeymoon period for you, unfortunately in view of the humongous goals that we have outlined. And your various Ministries will play critical roles in accomplishing those goals.
“We set targets, we set goals, and we have key performance indicators, we have measurable indicators, hence, we have to measure and we have to constantly take analysis of where you are in respect to the set goals and what your results are. Those key performance indicators are key to us and we will measure you based on these outcomes and results,” the governor stated.
He further charged the appointees to work as a team, in line with the established cultures of the administration.
“We also recognise teamwork champions. We do not encourage working in silos. You have to work as a team, we believe that by working as a team, we are able to accomplish our collective goals. You should not see your colleagues as rivals. They should actually complement your efforts instead.
“Our modest accomplishment in the state so far is not done by a single champion. We like to recognise our successes as team efforts,” he added.
Speaking on behalf of other appointees, Dr. Ogbu-Nwobodo thanked the governor for finding them worthy out of the many other highly qualified Enugu citizens and beyond, assuring that they would not let him down. Since you chose to entrust us with this sacred duty, as you make history on a daily basis, we will keep faith with our Oath of Office. We will be loyal and dedicated in the discharge of our duties. We will strive to contribute to the nationally acknowledged success that your government has become,” he said.
