Don’t gag subordinates, Governor charges new permanent secretaries 

Delta Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has advised permanent secretaries in the state not to gag subordinates and hinder free flow of ideas that will ensure proper coordination and growth of the civil service.

Okowa gave the charge on Tuesday while swearing in 12 new permanent secretaries and Auditor-General, Local Government, at Government House, Asaba.

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He stated that the best public officer was the one who received advice from his subordinates and put them to good use.

He warned permanent secretaries against bullying their directors and other lower grade workers and urged them to allow ideas from them to flow for the good governance of the state.

According to the Governor, the best permanent secretary, commissioner and governor is the one who has his ears opened to receive advice, because there is a lot of lessons to be learnt from everybody.

“Permanent secretaries play a vital role in the running of the civil service. A lot of them have exited from service in the last few months and most times, the spaces are filled from the local government areas where they exited from.

“People have also been elevated to permanent secretaries based on their capacity and competences,” he said.

Okowa congratulated the new permanent secretaries, saying “you are very much aware that there is a lot of work for you to do in these trying times”.

He explained that the permanent secretaries were selected because they had satisfied the required competence, seniority and needed geographical spread.

The new permanent secretaries are Dr Jude Winful-Orieke, Mrs Joy Enwa, Mr Blessing Edewor, Mrs Toriseju Ubogu, Mr Anthony Nwokolobia, Mr Bernard Okonta, Ms Ngozi Mogbolu, Dr Israel Ogheneaga and Mr Henry Onyeukwu.

Others are Mrs Rhoda Osokpo, Mrs Mabel Ekpenisi and Dr Funmilayo Omoraka while Mr Bruno Ebitonmo is Auditor-General, Local Government.