Politics
THE immediate past Secretary to Ebonyi State Government (SSG), Prof. Bernard Odoh, has advised Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi to concentrate efforts in addressing the numerous economic challenges facing the state.
Odoh who spoke on Friday in Abakaliki, was reacting to allegations by Umahi that he influenced the sack of a former Commissioner for Agriculture, Chief Ogodo Ali-Nomeh.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), recalls that the governor had alleged that the former SSG misled him to remove Ali-Nomeh as commissioner.
Ali-Nomeh and Odoh, a professor of Geo-Physics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, hail from Ezza North Local Government Area.
Odoh defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress(APC), on Saturday, Aug. 4, while he resigned his appointment on April 2, after 30 months in office.
Umahi made the allegation on Thursday when he swore in Ali-Nomeh, whom he reappointed as a commissioner.
According to Odoh, the state governor should not be taking on personalities in the state when practically every Ebonyi citizen is getting poorer and hopeless under his watch.
The former SSG stressed that the governor should make modest efforts to address the numerous economic challenges facing the people.
“It is only regrettable that while this blame-game and buck-passing is daily on in the state, the people now live on less than $200 per year as per capita income, while majority of the citizens are getting poorer and hopeless every day.
“It is further a thing of great concern that the Umahi-led administration may not even be aware that the latest economic rankings, put Ebonyi in 32 spot, out of the 36 states of the federation in the per capita income.
“The state also ranks 33 in the entire federation in the Ease of Doing Business,” Odoh said.
He also alleged that the government had regrettably not attracted a single investor into the state since 2015.
“Like I expressly stated in my resignation letter and which some knowledgeable and reasonable members of the Ebonyi public are also already aware, there are lots of policy failures going on under the watch of the governor, which he has failed to address.
“The governor, should, therefore, go beyond pedestrian issues and focus on economic, governance and development issues confronting his administration,” he said.
Odoh decried the total collapse of state institutions, with ministries having no permanent secretaries, and over-centralised control of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He said that serious efforts were not being made to actually drive development down to the grassroots. (NAN)
– Aug. 10, 2018 @ 18:35 GMT |
Tags: ex-SSG Prof. Odoh tells Gov. Umahi Tackle economic challenges facing Ebonyi
