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By Etim Etim

I attended the inauguration of the new commissioners and Special Advisers by Gov. Umo Eno at the Government House Banquette Hall. It is the first official government event that I have attended since Pastor Umo Eno became governor almost two years ago. The last time I was at this Banquette Hall was in October 2012. It was a reception for visiting President Goodluck Jonathan, and Gov. Akpabio was the state’s chief executive.

Last week, I received invitation from two of the appointees – Dr. Ekem Emmanuel John and Aniekan Umanah and I promised them that I would honour their invitation. I had asked Dr. John if he would be the next Commissioner of Health. He laughed and said he couldn’t be sure. ‘’It is in the hands of His Excellency’’, he said. ‘’How many medical doctors are on that list?” I probed. ‘’Up to three’’, he said. ‘’Well, wherever you are posted to, I will always have your back’’, I promised. He was grateful and we ended it there. I’m pleased to note that Dr. John has been assigned the Health portfolio. Both of us have come to enjoy some cordiality since we met early last year. Dr. John was in the thick of the government-sponsored medical outreach programme organized in the three senatorial zones last year, and I wrote extensively on it. I would be paying attention to what’s happening in Health; Agriculture; Education and Infrastructure. Ah! I shouldn’t forget security too.

I had also sensed that Aniekan Umanah would return to his former beat. He served in the Akpabio administration for nearly eight years as Information Commissioner, and for that period, I worked closely with him on different media projects, even though my day job was in the banking hall. Aniekan is a thorough media professional in the true sense of the word, and I look forward to collaborating with him once again. He is urbane; witty and affable. Besides, he knows the editors in Lagos and Abuja. I also know Uko Udom, SAN, very well, all the way from Lagos. Uko is as solid as they come: Brilliant; astute and shrewd. Another good friend is Nsikan Linus Nkan, now posted to Ministry of Economic Development. We are from the same LGA, but we knew each other as professional colleagues in banking long before we realized our common roots.

The inauguration was brief and business-like, and I took away three important points from Gov. Eno’s speech. One, the governor said that he is a man of his words and that he says what he does and does what he says. Then the clincher: ‘’I have no body language. Don’t try to read my body language because I have none. Rather, just keep to what I say and do’’. Very often, we see public officials try to hide their shortcomings by referring to the boss’ ‘’body language’’. This typically occurs when officials pick fights with assumed political opponents, in an apparent bid to impress the boss. They could make incendiary statements, or sponsor critical newspaper publications; tangentially targeting some persons whom they think is not friendly with the boss. It’s important that the governor has made the clarification to the new team that he doesn’t like confrontation; and will not tolerate team members engaging in proxy wars that has no benefits to the people. In the next one year, we shall be in the pre-election season, and this timely warning should be helpful to team members.

Two, the commissioners and special advisers are to keep their doors open and remain accessible to the people. ‘’You are the voice, ears and eyes of the governor in your respective communities’’, Eno told his new team. The commonest complaint from the grassroots about senior government officials is that they’re inaccessible. But sometime, stakeholders mount so much pressures that these officials just have to duck or go into hiding. It’s up to the team members to strike the correct balance. Since they will likely be in place till the reelection campaign begins in 18 months, their important task is to deliver the many projects that the government is working on. No stories!

The governor also asked the team to eschew making multiple media statements, stressing that only the Information Commissioner; Chief Press Secretary to the Governor and the SSG are authorized to speak for government. This is essentially to avoid team members issuing discordant press statements that could embarrass the government as we saw in the past. But to give the public the opportunity of knowing what each commissioner is doing, I suggest the government to approve monthly ministerial press briefings in which each commissioner/special adviser will take turn to explain the activities of his/her ministry every month, beginning from the third quarter of the year. There are many benefits of ministerial press briefings, one of which is to expose the EXCO members to media scrutiny as part of the leadership development process. One important quality of a leader in public service is ability to handle media scrutiny and inquiries professionally. In fact, the commissioner for Works should regularly take the media on project inspection. There are over 20 ongoing projects in the state, as I write. I actually want to go around one or two project sites before I return to base.