By Kingsley Agim
Cross River State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Comrade Asu Okang, has declared that Information and Orientation is an intellectual Ministry that requires a perfect working condition to enhance efficient and effective service delivery.
Comrade Okang stated this during a meeting with management and staff of the Ministry, held on Thursday, at the Conference Hall of the Ministry’s Headquarters in Calabar.
“We are committed to better working conditions for our staff; because this is an intellectual Ministry. And as intellectuals, you need to sit under perfect working conditions to be able to organize good write-ups as staff of Ministry of Information and Orientation.
“We have started with the entrance of the Ministry, through the Commissioner’s office, to the Permanent Secretary’s block. Very soon, we will begin to knock the doors of your offices to clean them up as well,” the Commissioner remarked.
Cautioning staff on his dislikes, the Information and Orientation Boss averred: “This Commissioner has very short circuit for laziness, lateness to work and lack of discretion to duty.”
In his bid to forestall such inherent anomalies in the service, Comrade Okang announced the introduction of an ‘electronic finger print time recorder’ to make for exactitude of when a staff reports to duty and leaves daily, abolishing the age-long and old-fashioned ‘time book’ which is characterized with falsities.
The Commissioner, who has also introduced a ‘direct telephone system’ for the Ministry, said, “the telephone will serve as a veritable means of information exchange between the Ministry and the public, as well as contact point for all staff in the Ministry, annulling communication through their personal phone lines.”
The action-minded Commissioner also disclosed that Close Circuit Cameras (CCTV) will soon be installed in the Ministry to monitor the goings on and activities of staff, adding: “To allay your fears, these are not meant to witch-hunt you or serve as your tracker. It is to check untoward behaviours of errant staff and enhance effective service delivery.”
He promised to look into issues raised by the Management of the Ministry, especially the degree of decaying infrastructure, the dearth of staff and the looming mass retirement of staff between 2021 and 2023.
In his remarks, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Aye Henshaw, lauded the Commissioner’s hands-on and result-oriented disposition, saying: “your beginning is going to have a very salutary effect on the Ministry.”
Dr. Henshaw said the palpable evidences seen in the Ministry, barely three weeks of the Commissioner’s assumption of office, makes staff support a compelling choice, in order for more results to come.
The Permanent Secretary also stated that as a Ministry whose mandate is to publicise government activities and provide feedback mechanism, the staffing problem in the Ministry should be addressed to avoid creating a lacuna in the service.