One year in office: Bishop Onaga commends Gov Mbah, urges respect 

Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev Dr. Callistus  Onaga has  commended the Governor of Enugu state, Dr. Peter Mbah for the giant strides he has achieved in his first year in office, saying, the achievements were unprecedented.

Pix- Bishop Onaga

The Bishop, also admonished leaders at all levels to treat humanbeings as humans by respecting them, maintaining that “human beings must be respected”.

Onaga, who gave the commendation/ admonition in his sermon during the thanksgiving Holy Mass celebrated  to mark the One year in office anniversary of Governor  Mbah, held on Wednesday,May 29, at the  Government House Chapel ,Enugu, said Governor made promises and was keeping them.

Speaking on the 3Rs advice, Bishop Onaga said ,”every human endeavor should be interpreted in 3 Rs ,which are Reverence, Respect and Rejoice. He said the three Rs had been experienced in Enugu state within  the last 3 months. 

Commending Governor Mbah for his good works in the state, Bishop Onaga said, “we know that it is a Government on the move. When we were starting  there were questions  and answers . All these promises, will they be fulfilled? Am not a politician. I will tell you what I saw. He said he will give water after 180 days. My brothers, we got water. 

 Pix- Gov Mbah taking the first reading

“Road construction started  and people  started talking, we did not see where to pass. Today, there is massive road construction. Another is demolition and people started complaining . Today , areas had been cleared. Vey soon , we shall see structures like the other two,” he said.

The Chief Celebrant went on to say, ” the Governor spoke about  SMART schools. SMART school is now working”. SMART school was built  in Owoh under few months and the school started with over 800 pupils.

Pix -Daughters of Divine Love Sisters. Mother General Anastasia Dike (middle).

“I wonder how you are making this magic In one year ,you have done all these. I wonder what will happen in the next 24  months. You are only one year in office. We are grateful that this is happening . We will continue to pray for you, pray for the state inorder to make this dream come through,” Bishop Onaga said.

The Bishop encouraged Governor Mbah to continue to work for the state, saying, “Your government is doing well. We encourage you. What  you need is to give people time to understand the dream and am appealing to the people  of Enugu to be patient.”

Pix- CAN chairman,Rev Emmanuel Edeh

In an interview, the Chairman of CAN , Enugu state chapter, Rev Emmanuel  Edeh ,thanked God for giving Enugu state a good leader, a man of vision who has come to deliver.  He said,Gov Mbah” is doing and exceeding expectation.”

Edeh described what Governor Mbah has done for Enugu state as”amazing “. It is on record that the Governor promised to give Enugu people water in 180 days and in 105 days, there was water. He does what he promised he was going to do.

“pix- Commissioner for Environment, Prof Sam Ugwu (middle)

“He said it is humongous. He said it is destructive.He did not hide anything.It is going to be business unusual. He said it all.We see  Government, we see Governors, we see politicians made promises and before you say Jack Robinson , their tenure would have come and gone. For him to achieve all these things in one Year, who knows what  his second year will be? 

“For His Excellency, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, the Governor of Enugu state , we say, God thank you and we are wishing him good health, strength, wisdom and understanding to do more. He prayed God to strengthen Governor Mbah to do more for Enugu state.

Pix- Senate minority whip, Senator Osita Ngwu( Enugu West)

On his part, the Senator representing Enugu West senatorial zone and Senate minority whip, Osita Ngwu, commended Governor Mbah for the developmental strides he had achieved within one year in office and assured support  for Governor Mbah administration .

Pix- Commissioner for Finance,Dr. Nathaniel Urama

Also in an interview, the  Commissioner for Finance, Dr Nathaniel Urama ,commended Governor Mbah for all the successes recorded in the first year of his tenure. He said they were able to do that and they were ready to do more, because they tried to ensure that revenues were collected “and all the collected revenues were paid into Government coffers.

Pix- Gov Ndubuisi Mbah

“We were able to close those loopholes by introducing e- ticketing ,whereby all the revenues are being collected  electronically then moved  directly into Government purse. With this ,we are getting all the  necessary revenues to achieve all the projects. All we are doing is based on revenue generation.So, we are achieving this by raising the revenue efforts and trying to minimize debts,” Urama said.

Pix- Former Gov Sullivan Chime(1st R), former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi ( 2nd R)

On his part, the speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly, Uche Ugwu said  they had passed a lot of bills that touch the lives of the people. He added that there is a cordial relationship between the State Executive and the Legislature.

Governor Mbah in a banquet held after the church service, said, the banquet may indeed be for the modest achievements they have made last one year, they know that they also have much work to do. “The people are at the centre of what we do”, he said .

Pix- Commissioners

The event was attended by the  former Governor of old Anambra state, Senator Jim Nwobodo, former Governors of Enugu state, Sullivan Chime, Rt. Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi- Ugwuanyi, former Deputy Governors of Enugu state, Okechukwu Itanyi, Bishop Ralph Nwonye, Sunday Onyebuchi and  Hon( Mrs) Cecilia Ezeilo, the current Deputy Governor of Enugu state , Ifeanyi Ossai, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, the Chief of  staff,  Victor Udeh, members of State Executive Council, National Assembly members, Enugu State Assembly members, Clergymen, the Religious, traditional rulers among o

Pix- Commissioners Ngozi Enih( L) Gerald Otiji(R), others

The Governor commissioned 71 road projects after the state banquet, with a promise to do more for Enugu state

Pix- NLC chairman, Comrade Fabian Nwigbo (L) TUC chairman Comrade Ben Asogwa!(R)

Pix- Chairman ENSUBEB , Dr. G.O.C.Ajah

Author: Maureen Ikpeama

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