Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, on Tuesday, announced the creation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, rejigging his cabinet, swearing in a new Head of Service, six new commissioners, and reassigning three others.
The new ministry may have arisen following the state’s investment in the power sector, as well as the prospects in the state’s mineral sector.
The exercise, which was the first since Mbah became governor over two years ago, saw the new ministry being assigned a Commissioner, as well as other ministries whose Commissioners resigned some days ago or had operated for some time without a Commissioner being filled with substantive Commissioners.
Mbah also assigned portfolios to the new appointees, following the administration of Oath of Office on them by a representative of the Ministry of Justice, Chizoba Ogbodo, at the State Executive Council Chamber, the Government House, Enugu.
The newly sworn-in appointees are Dr Godwin Anigbo (Head of Service); Benjamin Osita Okoh (Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure); Prof. Benedett Ekwutosi Okoli (Commissioner for Human Development and Poverty Eradication); Enyinna Franklin Ogbonna (Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources); and Dr Samuel Ogbu-Nwobodo (Commissioner for Trade, Investment, and Industry).
Others are Prof. George Ugwu (Commissioner for Health) and Ben Collins Ndu Jr., who was designated as the Commissioner for Water Resources.
Dr Felix Nnamani was reassigned from the Ministry of Water Resources to the Ministry of Labour and Employment as Commissioner.
Dr Malachy Agbo was reassigned from the Ministry of Human Development and Poverty Eradication to the Ministry of Information, while the former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Gerald Otiji, is now the Commissioner for Housing.
Speaking during the occasion, Mbah charged the appointees to hit the ground running, stressing that there would be no honeymoon period for them.
He said the administration had, in two years, steered high expectations among the people of the state as well as Nigerians in general and could not lower its performance across sectors.
