Asu Okang's time recording device, what is he up to?

Hon. Asu Okang, Commissioner for information

It is African to believe that a child that will live, will live; and a child that will die, will die. With these believe, even if a child dies because of untreated Malaria, we attribute it to divine cause. In Africa, we sometimes attribute failure also to either divine sanctions or manipulations.

What is happening currently in Cross River State shows that if you don't place people where they fit into, you may also not get optimal performance from them and they will fail. The case of Cross River Ministry of Information has given me concern and driven my interest to know what the ministry is doing  and what the Commissioner is UP to.

After the 2019 elections and it took the Cross River State governor, Prof. Ben Ayade about six months to appoint his cabinet members, I felt that was too much delay as almost everything within the state was actually not doing well. From the dotted potholes within the city roads to the dirty environment then, it was a story of the Cross River State we know before, becoming something else.

After the delayed appointments came a certain Asu Okang who was appointed the Commissioner of Information and Orientation, a young man who wanted and still wants to prove his worth and be seen as being very active. His resumption in office immediately after he was appointed, his rhetorics  about what he was going to do and what he was not going to do, to most Cross Riverians, was a normal Nigerian politician thing, who just want to impress himself, the governor and his followers.

Like him or not, there is one unique thing about Commissioner Asu Okang, and that thing is, his 'desperate' desire to match his words with actions. Whether his actions are political, to me, does not matter at this point if he keeps the pace. From  his resuming office immediately after he was appointed, holding meetings immediately with ministry heads, his promise to create online platforms for the ministry media outfits which I heard is currently working, the ministerial press briefing that gave citizens the opportunity to know what other ministries are doing and his now, 'time marking device' placed in parastatals within the ministry to automatically check arrival and departure time by staff, as against the manual futy register, are some of the reasons why I am asking, what is he up to?

One thing is certain about me, while I will stop at nothing to criticise the Commissioner if he 'falls' our hands, it is also good to encourage him now that he is doing well, to do more. I will also want to use this opportunity to ask that now that the Commissioner is able to automatically check when a staff comes to work and when that staff leaves, the Commissioner should please, look for a way to monitor their performances within office too. The sad story of going to Ministries, where you enter an office and officials will be there discussing their private issues while you stay and wait for them to finish before they can attend to you is not palatable.

I will end with saying that Commissioner Asu Okang if encouraged by government and citizens, is upto doing something great in Cross River Ministry of Information and Orientation.

Ekpenyong Isaiah-isababa
Commander, Infantry Pen Battallion
isacool4good@yahoo.com