Amaechi Assures On Enduring Structures

Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi, says his administration is poised to build strong and viable institutions to drive the state’s transformation agenda.

He spoke through Secretary to the State Government, Mr. George Feyii yesterday at a two-day retreat for board of directors of state owned parastatals and institutions in Government House, Port Harcourt.

Amaechi said the retreat was being undertaken, “ because this administration places emphasis to build institutions to drive government policies, and these policies cannot be achieved if those that run it do not understand the role they play’’.

Against this backdrop, he reiterated that the workshop was geared at teaching the participants on the role they are expected to play as drivers of government’s policies and programmes, saying,  “we have boards, ministries and parastatals in place and it is important they understand what is expected of them to achieve the vision of the present administration.

The governor urged them to proffer shared ideas by raising issues that will help inject effective service delivery at all levels of office they hold.

Speaking earlier, facilitator and Executive Director of Centrepiece Consultants Nigeria Limited, Prof. Festus Iyayi submitted that the workshop was organised to provide a stocktaking process for members and chairmen of boards of parastatals in the state.

He stated that the forum would help diagnose existing problems and evolve measures to eliminate bottlenecks in the running of the government agencies, adding that “ our greatest satisfaction is to see positive changes and we believe that this will happen in Rivers State”.

Prof. Iyayi, therefore, expressed the hope that participants would at the end use what they have learnt to effectively manage their agencies and improve the polity.

Speaking later on the topic, ‘Board of Directors and the Management of  Parastatals ‘’ the  Secretary to the State Government, Mr. George Feyii explained that government set up boards and parastatals to ensure that agencies carry out their functions cohesively in policy formulation and pursuance of government objectives.

In the course of carrying out these functions, he said, boards and heads of parastatals had the responsibility of formulating programmes and objectives that are in tandem with the overall vision of the government.

Feyii emphasised that every agency’s management had to be abreast with thelatest policy direction so as to make decisions that would correspond with its overall objective and success.

In view of this, he said the boards had the challenge to get feedback and assess their performance on intervals, pointing out that “there are things that the board are expected to do and  things they are not expected to do ‘’, especially in the financial management aspect of their organisations.

L-R:Director-General, Advisory Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Prof. Jerry Gana,Senate President,David Mark and Chairman, Senate Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa and NEPAD, Senator Simeon Ajibola, during the Advisory Committee’s visit to the Senate President, in Abuja, yesterday