Rivers State Sole Administrator, Retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, has charged newly inaugurated Boards and Agencies to work towards entrenching integrity, urgency, and innovation while discharging their duties to the people of the state.
Retired Vice Admiral Ibas while speaking during the inauguration ceremony which held at the Executive Chamber of Government House in Port Harcourt on Friday 22 August reminded the appointees that their roles are not ceremonial.
He declared that their appointments must translate into tangible progress across the state in a professional and transparent manner.
The inaugurated boards include the Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board, the Senior Secondary Schools Board, the Internal Revenue Service Board, the Microfinance Agency, the Contributory Health Protection Programme Board, the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital Board, and the Rivers State Waste Management Agency.
Sole Administrator Ibas who pledged government support for education through meeting funding obligations called for accountability on every kobo spent.
He charged the Universal Basic Education Board and the Senior Secondary Schools Board to address overcrowding in classrooms, improve infrastructure, enforce discipline among teachers in order to reverse the state’s declining educational metrics.
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Retired Vice Admiral Ibas reiterated clearly that the state must begin to reduce its reliance on federal allocations and tasked the newly inaugurated Internal Revenue Service Board with modernising tax systems, closing revenue leakages, and ensuring fairness in tax collection.
While reassuring his administration’s mandate to provide affordable, and in many cases free, healthcare for the most vulnerable in the state, Retired Vice Admiral Ibas urged the Contributory Health Protection Programme Board and the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital Board to ensure that their role in providing specialist care, training future health professionals amongst others are not neglected.
The Sole Administrator further revealed that the state had already taken proactive steps, including the procurement of modern equipment and the construction of access roads to landfill sites and challenged the Rivers State Waste Management Agency Board to think beyond disposal and initiate steps towards converting waste into value.
