Politics
Abia holds 2025 Exco retreat, maps out strategies to forestall operational conflicts in civil service
The Abia State government has concluded its two-day retreat aimed at identifying operational bottlenecks and proffering solutions to ensure effective governance in the state.
The retreat, first of the year 2025, held at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia , the state capital, was for members of the enlarged State Executive Council and was aimed at leadership exposition, interactions and agenda-setting.
It had the Theme: “Sustaining Momentum: Accelerating Execution”.
We’ll set the bar very high – Otti
In his speech at the occasion titled, “Eyes On The Ball”, the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, hinted that there is high expectation of the people on the government and so charged members of the enlarged Abia State Executive Council to approach their assignments and governance with sense of urgency and seriousness.
He reiterated his administration’s commitment to raising governance standards far beyond those of past administrations, and emphasized that every sector of Abia’s economic and social service ecosystem is crucial to the state’s development,
Governor Otti stressed the need for government appointees to develop a robust and sustainable execution template that will drive the attainment of Abia’s strategic governance targets for the current fiscal year.
“This administration is not going to be judged by the mediocre standards of the past administrations 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. This year,2025 will be a crucial year for the State. So, we are required to exceed whatever we achieved in the past,” Gov. stated.
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.
Speaking earlier, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Kenneth Kalu said that the administration of Governor Otti has gathered momentum in several areas of infrastructural development, health, education and other sectors, stressing that the retreat is aimed at sustaining the momentum.
He explained that the retreat was an opportunity for the participants to reflect and map- out strategies to move towards achieving the goals of the present administration and urged them not to be satisfied with the level they find themselves at present.
In his Paper, titled, “Enhancing Public Service Through Efficiency, Accountability, Transparency and Impactful Reforms”, a former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye regretted lack of capacity, accountability and transparency in the civil service and recommended capacity building, conducive working- 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 workforce needed and embarking on training and retraining to have an impactful reforms.
He suggested that there should be collaboration between the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Head of Service, saying that the friction between the public and civil servants could be minimized by acknowledging that they are working to achieve a common goal.
In their reactions, some participants including the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Sir Chris Onwuegbu and his Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning counterpart, Lady Ugonma Jimonu said that the retreat is to ensure that top government officials in the State are brought to the same page as they strive to build a new Abia as envisioned by Governor Alex Otti.
They agreed that the retreat had thrown ideas to reduce conflicts between political appointees and the bureaucrats, adding that they would be going back home with better understanding on the ways of implementing the policies and programmes of the government for 2025.
