CONTRIBUTION TO ELECT GOVERNOR, NOT AN INVESTMENT -ELECHI
Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State has cautioned politicians who might feel disappointed that they were not part of his cabinet to realize that their sacrifice to form a government should not be seen as an investment on personal grounds.
He said it should rather be seen as an investment that is supposed to bring about the well being of the majority of the people of the state.
Elechi gave the advice while swearing-in new members of the state executive council made of 19 commissioners and seven Special Advisers in Abakaliki.
He admonished the cabinet members that: 'There is no greater reward that you can get than having a credible government in place because if the government succeeds you are the maker to some extent which all of us will stand to benefit but if you elect a bad government no matter the personal reward to the greater majority of the people, there is no advantage. So our reward should not be seen as just the positions we occupy after struggling to put a government in place.'
He noted that the appointment of the commissioners has left people in quagmire and described it as one of the most difficult assignments considering the number of factors and issues to be taken into account in balancing the composition of the state executive council and was particularly thankful to the Speaker and members of the House of Assembly as well as the director and members of State Security Service who worked very fast in screening the nominees to enable him constitute his cabinet that took him two months to constitute
He said 'n balancing the choice so many things are taken into account not just the personal competence which is the most important thing but also the geographical spread, sometimes the issues of religion are taken into account, no group is deliberately left out but when you see a preponderance of very good people coming from one area it is not so easy to leave all of them as nominees before taking into account areas that may feel depressed. But the important thing is that whether you are brought in a second time, the second time or the third time everybody is within the system. If you are left out today it is not the end, you come in subsequently in other ways so that at the end of a given period, say 10 years you have a basket of tested men and women from whom you can assign to other positions of responsibility either in government or outside government but wherever we are we are still relevant.'
To the women Elechi assured them that his administration was still gender sensitive, pointing out that the 35 percent affirmative action was a goal the state government was aspiring to attain and perhaps surpass.
He reminded them that by the law of nature, men and women cannot be equal in every category of service. In one category one gender could be more and in another the reverse could be the situation, arguing that it took the men a very long time to get to where they were now and the women did not just begin the same time as the men but assured that the subsequent appointment women would be accommodated.