Speaking at the unveiling of the Agency in Umuahia with the theme, “Abia: Hitting the Reset Button”, Gov. Otti said ‘the essence of establishing the new agency was to change the way the people live and behave for the better.
He reminded the people that no society can develop unless such a society is transformed, adding that the agency represents the whole effort of his administration to bring about a radical change in the way things are done in the state.
Governor Otti also challenged everyone to contribute to the development of the state charging the management of the agency to carry out sensitisation of the right behavioural pattern to the people.
The governor said the launch of the agency and the choice of the person of Mrs Oby Ezekwesili as the guest lecturer pointed to the determination of the administration to excel.
Giving an overview of what the agency is all about, the Director General, Pastor Dike Nwankwo, described it as a new dawn in the state, noting that there was a need for a change in the people’s mentality and doing the right thing with the aim of maintaining a good image of the state
The agency, he said, had deployed orientation officers in the 17 LGAs and 184 political wards in the state and would be organising seminars, lectures among other efforts geared towards ensuring grassroots participation in governance.
In her lecture virtually, former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, advised Otti to ensure technology and sound policies in order to achieve his vision for Abia State.
According to her, technology in the promotion of all government businesses is critical to good governance hence Otti should not shy away from running a technology-driven government.
She regretted that Abia has a problem with a leadership ambition gap and assured Abians that “the possibility of achieving and even surpassing what the then Premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, had done in the past is there depending on how the new leadership pilots the state affairs.”
In his speech, the former president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, advised the Abia government to heed the advice of Ezekwesili in order to make the state great and work again.
