The Imo State Deputy Governor Sir Jude Agbaso has said that the recent minor cabinet reshuffle by Governor Rochas Okorocha on the Executive Council of Imo State whereby he was removed as the state Commissioner for Works was to widen his scope of service to the state administration as a Deputy Governor and to lessen the work-load on the Governor.
The Deputy Governor made this remark while briefing media men in his office at Government House Owerri recently.
Describing the reshuffle as a strategy aimed at better and more efficient service delivery, Sir Agbaso said that with the reshuffle, four ministries would be reporting directly to him. He also said that the re-structuring had placed more burdens on him than before.
‘Administration is like in a game of football, there will be a time a coach can swap or give players additional or strategic roles in a match for better result. With the recent cabinet reshuffle, I am to supervise ministries of Health, Petroleum and Environment, Youths and Sports and Agriculture/Natural Resources. This is coupled with other commissions and task forces I am presently superintending and my traditional role to stand in for the governor in many occasions. You see, I am busier now than one would think. But I am equal to the task as I have brought out myself, strength and time to serve Imo State well as I used to do in my private businesses’.
On his exploits as Commissioner for Works, the Deputy Governor said that the Governor drafted him to the works ministry because of the importance of the projects being handled by the ministry like roads. He however said that he had set a good standard in the place which only needs to be sustained. He also enumerated the various projects the government achieved through the ministry and placed implicit confidence on the commissioner that would take over from him.
Sir Agbaso also used the occasion to debunk a recent story by an Owerri based newspaper, National Question that he had relocated his family abroad for alleged lack of adequate security in Imo State.
‘My wife is here and is working as a Special Assistant to the Wife of the Governor. I attended the burial of my late Director of Protocol with her recently. All my children are schooling in Owerri and are living with me at the Deputy Governors Lodge in Owerri. The only person abroad is my first son who has been studying abroad even before I became a Deputy Governor So the story was a fabricated falsehood so as to create tension where none exists’. Moreover, statistics shows that there is a drastic drop in the rate of crime in the state now as the state government is doing everything possible to clamp down on criminals in the state. The recent apprehension of those who killed my former Director of Protocol is a little proof of what I am saying.