OKONKWO LAUDS ASSENT TO FOI BILL, ANYIM'S APPOINTMENT

Incumbent outgoing Senator representing Anambra Central, Annie Okonkwo, has described the quick presidential assent to the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill as an appetising foretaste to his promised cuisine of transformation, because transparency and access to information remain inexcusable ingredients for real transformation and progress.

He, therefore, urged the media, the civil societies and the general public to indulge themselves responsibly and hold those at the helm of their affairs accountable without let or prejudice.

Reacting to the appointment of former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, as the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG), through a statement by his Special Assistant, Media, Mr. Collins Steve Ugwu, he said, 'Sen. Anyim is a man visibly endowed by nature in stature and sufficiently blessed by opportunities. He should therefore embrace his new challenge with all the grit of his energy and the flair of his best experiences to post a difference in good governance quickly.'

Drawing his attention to the Federal Character Wisdom, he noted: 'The point must be made and earnestly too, that as a competent Igbo man chosen by presidential prerogative to occupy their slot in the commanding heights of governance, he must labour hard to elevate the integrity stock of his kinsmen while serving and work to reduce their lamentations in the Nigerian polity, within the realm of standard national ethics. That way,' he reasoned, 'the impetus to rally around him will be firm and the usual peril of stunted ovation nurtured into loud applause at the end of the day.'

He then charged the incoming legislators to understand that 'the deserved aplomb of legislative responsibilities in Nigeria must find comparative respect in the quality of their work, which their voting constituents remain the unchallenged arbiters,' adding that 'now, and not after, must every distinguished or honourable legislator, whether at the local, state or National Assembly, find a fitting garment of urgency as they step into their hallowed chambers, to confront the acute expectations our people long desired and should ordinarily have,' he concluded.