A SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY. SULLIVAN IHEANACHO CHIME. GOVERNOR OF ENUGU STATE ON THE OCCASION OF THE FIRST HALF-YEAR EXECUTIVE RETREAT ON SATURDAY. JANUARY 12.2008
PROTOCOL
It is really a pleasure for me to be here today on this unique occasion of the First Half-Year Performance Review. The timing and agenda of this Executive Retreat are both apt and desirable because we need such frank assessment of ourselves as a team.
Six months ago, we came together at this same venue to chart a roadmap towards the needed rebirth of our State. We collectively designed highly innovative and imaginative policies and programmes to radically transform Enugu State. At the end, we left with high hopes which derived from our enthusiasm to deliver on our promises. .
Today, I am glad that we have come back to review our performances so far and the corresponding implementation of our set goals. This moment calls for sober reflection for us all. Indeed, the exercise demands that we pause to mark the miles we have traveled.
There are obvious questions we must answer. Have you, as an individual, mustered your best efforts to prosper our people and the State? Are you satisfied with your output so far? Did you compromise your position for personal gains? Were there certain things you would have done differently? Are you prepared to make the needed adjustments in future?
This is the time for all of us to individually do a real soul-searching. We must count ourselves blessed to be found worthy to serve our people. Their expectations are high and we must not let them down.
I am strongly of the view that we should take advantage of the opportunity the Retreat offers to firmly address the challenges that have faced us in our areas of operation these past six months, and also to re-dedicate ourselves for the tasks ahead.
When we assumed the mantle of leadership, we were clear in our thoughts and convictions that our Government would pursue pro-people policies. Thus, you will recollect that during my inaugural address on May 29, 2007, I pledged that we will have "an Enugu State where government is open, accountable and responsive to the genuine yearnings of the people and takes action to improve the lives of the people..."
The experiences of the past seven months, for me, have been quite revealing and rewarding. But I have not come here to bore you with details of our accomplishments or constraints so far because we are all co-travellers on the same journey to rebuilding our State. We have assembled here not
to blow our own trumpets or to apportion blames. Rather, we have come to develop new workable strategies to improve our State and to interface with our fellow Enugu State citizens within and outside our shores to fast-track our development initiatives in the interest of our people.
On December 18,2007, I presented the 2008 Budget of fifty seven billion, nine hundred and eighty two million, nine hundred thousand naira (N57,982,900,000) to the Enugu State House of
Assembly with a commitment to exhaustively prosecute this Administration's Four-Point Agenda and also to ensure transparency and accountability.
In that Budget of Restoration, I said and I quote: "Indeed, the time has come for us to restore the belief of our citizens in government and governance. They must begin to believe that government means well and is willing to cater for them. This is the moment to restore hopes of our people that the future holds genuine promises. The hour is here for the restoration of our infrastructure that had been in a terrible state of dilapidation. There can be no better opportunity than now to restore due process and probity in our system as well as hardwork and service in our public service. We have come with the message that we are determined to restore merit in the appointments we make and assignments we give..."
While restating our preparedness to deploy the resources so appropriated to maximum results, I was equally definite that our Government will exercise prudent budgetary discipline to achieve its stated objectives. Therefore, I urge you to be transparent in all that you do in both your official and private capacities. We will not get tired to remind everyone here that it is no more business as usual.
Let me, at this juncture, place on record my profound appreciation to those whose enduring contributions have helped in no small measure to provide the democracy dividends which our people have enjoyed during the period under review. Posterity will be kind to reward your efforts.
I am proud to say that you have all been loyal members of our team. Yet, I also readily admit that not everyone lived up to expectation. As for those in this category, today's ceremony offers you another chance to redeem yourselves. Otherwise, there will be no justification for such people to continue to remain on the same seats or to keep their jobs if they do not improve. This is a wakeup call! On my part, I am ready to offer whatever assistance to pull everyone along.
Let us, therefore, embrace those cherished traditions of hard-work, loyalty and service, and uphold those sterling qualities which earned us the jobs in the first place. The challenge ahead calls for a total re-orientation of our attitude to work. As ambassadors of this Administration, you are the ones to mobilise and motivate our people to join in the crusade to reinvent our State.
Our resolve to excel is unshaken. I am certain that by the grace of God, and with your dedication to duty and determination to leave behind worthy legacies, history will give this Administration, your Administration, a noble place in the annals.
Every generation has a role assigned to it by history. Our only choice is to fulfill, not betray ours. Let us, therefore, accept the sacrifices that our assignment and mission entail, aware that when the time inevitably comes, future generation will say of you and of me that, indeed, we gave our people a new Enugu State.
I cannot conclude this address without acknowledging the support extended to us by our partners who offered support to the programme. I also thank the organisers for putting up this wonderful Retreat. It is my prayer that we shall all come up with useful recommendations which will assist planning and execution of our future projects and policies.
On this note, it is my honour to now declare the Retreat open.
Thank you and God bless you all.
|
