Abia House Of Assembly Concludes Screening Of Commissioner Nominees

The Abia House of Assembly continued its screening of the commissioner nominees sent to it by the Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu yesterday.

Fielding Questions from the lawmakers on what to do to improve the media in Abia State, John OKiyi Kalu admitted that there are gaps in the states communication systems and processes.

He said the government already has a media and information management blueprint,  detailing its media strategy and how to streamline information going out to the public, that is ready for implementation by whoever is appointed Commissioner for Information.

Mr Okiyi noted that beyond Abia, not a lot is being heard about the state in terms of the laudable programs and achievements of the Governor including the promotion of made in Aba brands which is already a global campaign and promised to take Abia State to Lagos and Abuja in a manner that will not hurt the finances of the state.

The Commissioner nominee further highlighted that the information sector has an emerging model which must be used if state owned media outfits will meet global best practices especially “the Ambassador Newspaper”.

He regretted that the newspaper outfit only produces twice a month as against weekly or daily and promised to make it a brand the state will be proud of in a very short time.

Okiyi also reacted to questions on attacks by the Governors Media aides at social media against his political opponents and noted that the nature of the response of the Governor's aides depend largely on the nature of the issues raised. He stated that when mischief and maliciousness are behind an attack against the governor his aides will most likely respond with facts first and may be "give a little dose of the person's medicine back to him"




Aham Uko on his part said the best approach to achieving improved revenue generation in the state is to ensure that projects embarked by the state government had a multiplier and enduring effect on the people.

Another nominee, Ikechukwu Anyatonwu, was asked to take a bow, while other nominees were drilled for hours.

Following the successful screening, the house has however confirmed the nominees.

They house also mandated the chairman of Abia State Universal Basic Education Board, to appear before it on Monday 30th October, 2017, following allegations of financial mismanagement.

~ Factnews Online