Otu makes 83 appointments, calls for dedication to duty

Gov. Bassey Otu has made 83 new appointments to help him pilot the affairs of Cross River State.

This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Emmanuel Ogbeche, the chief Press Secretary to the Governor and made available to newsmen in Calabar on Tuesday.

Our correspondent reports that the list has 28 special assistants, three personal assistants, 38 special advisers and 14 directors- general, general managers and managing directors into boards and agencies of the state.

While congratulating the new appointees, Otu charged them to be diligent and bring their wealth of experience to bear in the service to the state.

However, in a swift reaction, Mr Efio-Ita Nyok, National Caucus Leader, Active Citizens Engaging the Legislature (Leg’ACE), said though it was commendable that the the much anticipated list was out, it did not show gender sensitivity.

Nyok said the list of 38 special advisers had only eight women, which is just 21 per cent, while the list of DGs, GMs and MDs that were 14 in number, had only two women, suggesting just about 14 per cent.

“While I think the gender parity is too wide, there is also the issue of multiplicity of responsibility, for instance, there are Special Assistants on Students Affairs, Students Advocacy and Students Orientation.

“We also have special assistant, intelligence, when we already have four appointees on the issue of security – security adviser to the governor for each of the three senatorial districts and state security adviser; this is simply multiplicity of responsibility.

“More so, on the general list, we have more politicians, some of whom lost the last election than technocrats; there are even appointments of officials from the last administration that failed the state grossly,”

He noted that the governor should look at the list again, rejig it and bring technocrats on board.

He said that it was also important for Otu to show commitment to the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) by appointing a special adviser for this purpose, especially in the area of conflict management and peace building.

Nyok added that this was important to support the plans of the governor to revamp the agric sector of the state that needed peace to thrive and the watchful eyes of CSOs on the public and private sectors.