…decries stealing of government assets
Cross River State governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, has scrapped the state’s Scrap Metal Regulatory Agency for engaging in unwholesome activities.
The governor said the disbanded agency was illegally pilfering government assets, including dumpsters, and labelling them as scraps.
Ayade, speaking on Tuesday at the State Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office in Calabar where he swore in Udiba Udiba as the state’s Commissioner for Assets Management with “the responsibility to document every single asset that belongs to this state”, also decried the stealing of government assets especially as his administration winds down.
The governor, who also swore in Martins Osibe as a Commissioner in the state’s Civil Service Commission, said Cross River has a very sad story regarding assets remittances as the state’s assets have often been taken away because the government does not have inventory of them.
“In this time and age, people still see government assets as nobody’s assets. As government is winding down, they convert official cars and change number plates and hide the cars from government,” Ayade lamented.
“Some people move from one ministry to the other taking government assets. They disappear with assets and take them away.
“Government vehicles are disappearing. If a vehicle has a small dent and it is sent to mechanic workshop, they will disappear from there. Government will buy official vehicles that are functional and somebody will seize them and say it is scrap,” he said.
He emphasized the need for an asset register for the state which would indicate that “if you go to Obudu, for instance, this particular building belongs to Ministry of Agriculture, this particular land belongs to the state and it is a property of the Cross River State government”.
On the Scrap Metal Regulatory Agency, the governor said available information suggested that the agency was “going around causing problems, seizing everything saying they are scraps”.
He announced that “the Scrap Metal Regulatory Agency is hereby scrapped”, saying the agency would no longer exist because it would now come under the Ministry of Asset Management.
The governor described Udiba as an honest man and one of the pillars of his administration, expressing optimism that the new commissioner would deliver in his new assignment. He asked the new commissioner to immediately hit the ground running.
In his response, Udiba, who was the Director-General of the state’s Bureau for Public Private Partnership before his recent appointment, thanked Governor Ayade for the appointment and pledged to carry out his job without fear or favour.
