ENUGU STATE SECTOR REFORM: UGWUANYI INAUGURATES MORE COMMITTEES

The Enugu State Governor, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has further inaugurated additional five Adhoc Committees tasked to review various sectors of the state government and design roadmaps for optimized service delivery and advancement of good governance in the state.

The committees include, Agricultural and Rural Development with Professor Dan Ugwu as Chairman; Youth and Sports Development, with Mr. Emeka Mbah, Chairman; Sustainable Environment and Urban Management with Professor Smart Uchegbu as Chairman.

Others were Professor Kingsley Ogbo to  head Land, Housing, and Transport; while Professor Godwin Owoh would chair Finance, Review of Internally Generated Revenue and lnternational Development Partners Funding sector.

Addressing the newly inaugurated committees, Governor Ugwuanyi mentioned that among terms of reference of the committee was explore avenues for the state to perform optimally in the growth of its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, and other economic indices to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of the people of the State.

“The finance committee shall assist in designing a roadmap to further boost positive returns on our assets, increase our IGR and optimize outcomes of development partner support,” Ugwuanyi stated.

He added that the strategy was also in keeping with President Muhammadu Buhari’s call on state governors to prioritize their IGR drive for the wellbeing of their people, stating that “the economic viability of states in Nigeria is benchmarked on the parity between their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and their share of federal account allocations.”

According to the Governor, “although Enugu State is currently ranked as the seventh most economically viable state in Nigeria, we seek to perform better for the sake of improving the lives of our people and fulfilling our electoral promises.”

On agriculture and rural development sector, Chief Ugwuanyi, who noted that Enugu was predominantly a rural and agrarian state with a substantial proportion of its working population engaged in farming, explained that the committee, was expected to design a workable roadmap to boost farming/agro-allied businesses in the state to generate mass employment and proffer a sustainable strategy to boost orderly and integrated development of the rural areas.

While in youths and Sports Development in the state, the Governor described the youth as the hub for economic growth, pointing out that Enugu State had talented sports men and women, who had won laurels within and outside the shores of the country.

He stressed that programmes and sponsorship were required to continue discovering and developing the youthful talents.

Governor Ugwuanyi further urged the committee on youths and sports development to “proffer strategies for achieving this, and for engaging the youth in sports development, character building, entrepreneurship, skills acquisition and participation in good governance.”

Emphasizing the need to articulate a sustainable environmental management strategy that will deploy different initiatives to address various ecological issues affecting the state and forestall ecological disasters and environmental crisis, Governor Ugwuanyi spelt out that the committee on the sector “is expected to dutifully look at the totality of our interaction with terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric environment for sustainable development, having due regard to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem balance.”

The Governor further stated that the committee on Lands, Housing and Transport is also expected to undertake a situation analysis of Enugu State’s potentials and enviable status as one of the safest states in Nigeria to live in, ranking second in Ease of Doing Business and third in Ease of Starting Business, that had witnessed a growing demand for land, housing and transport.

“To meet these demands, we intend to improve our land administration and management, boost orderly housing development and establish a modern intra-state transport system,” the Governor stated.

Chief Ugwuany, however, enjoined members of the committee to deploy their wealth of experience to add value to governance in the state.

Responding on behalf of the constituted committees, Professor Smart Uchegbu promised to adopt a suitable approach to policy analysis and decision making in discharging their mandate.

“I am really overwhelmed that for the first time, we see a dynamic governor joyfully assembling a cream of professionals to work with him, to assist him achieve more of what he has already achieved.

“We are committed to discharging the duty assigned to us with diligent and a sense of responsibility.”

The committee was the second batch of the sectoral adhoc committee expected to recommend way to steer the state to development shore.

CHUKWUMA EZEOGU

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