Lecturer Berets Okowa Media Managers Over Non-performance
For not giving Deltans timely information about the happenings in government especially with regards to delay in the receipt of allocation from the Federal Government and the delay in the payment of salaries as at when due by the Delta State government, a senior lecturer/Ag Head of Department (HOD) Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Oleh Campus, Hilary Ijeoma Owamah, has lambasted media aides to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, for not bracing up to their responsibilities.
Owamah, who doubles as the General Managing Director (GMD) A.RED Consultancy, said the work of media aides is to be proactive in informing citizens of the various stages of government activities known to the people at all times.
This is coming on the heels of the current delay in the payment of November salary after President Muhammadu Buhari released N800 million each to 35 states to pay up till December salaries of workers.
The senior lecturer whitewashed the aides Tuesday while delivery a lecture with the theme: “The Role of the Press In Managing The Lessons Of Recession For A wealthier Delta State”, at the 2017 Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Delta State Council Press Week held at Labour House, Asaba.
According to him, the governor’s aides should issue press releases on situations to calm down nerves of Deltans instead of the masses agitating before calming them down, “they can make official statement and give it to you and you spread it”.
The visibly angry GMD said, “no information and there are so many PAs and SAs of communication to the governor. They are not doing it properly, we should know and the masses should also know because the teachers are already complaining”.
He stressed that the state government must carry workers along to achieve his second term ambition, “and as far as 2019 is concern, you must carry the workers along. If you don’t carry the workers along, nothing good can come out, that is the truth. We saw how it happened in the previous one and then there was a rerun”,
He hinted that he has not gotten any political post, stressing that he was not also seeking for one, “I have never had any political post. I am not even seeking for one now”.
Hear him: “let the aides liaise with you people, once there is anything that will confuse the public, the information should come first before the public is confused. Stop trying to correct confusion that is what we have been doing, we try to correct confusion. Like what he has done now. He was correcting confusion”, referring to the state information commissioner, Patrick Ukah, who represented the governor at the event, insisting that “before the confusion arises, let the solution come”, the HOD declared.
He noted that the issue of delay in salaries of workers is a serious one “that people have not been paid when they were supposed to be paid, it is a very serious issue if not the efforts of government will be dented, he warned.