From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia
Abia State Deputy Governor, Sir Ude Oko Chukwu, has called for all hands to be on deck in building and taking the State to a higher pedestal.
According to the Deputy Governor, growing Abia requires that every stakeholder in the state would play the roles expected of him or her. “We should do all that we need to do to take Abia to a higher level,” Sir Oko Chukwu said when he received the leadership of the Correspondents Chapel of Abia State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in his office in Umuahia.
He requested that journalists should give Abia a good name that would attract investors to boost the state’s economy which would impact positively on the development agenda of the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu-led administration.
“We should do our best to ensure that investors and visitors would make Abia their choice destination,” he said, adding, “Abia remains the most peaceful state in the South east and safer than other states. If you report that, investors and visitors will come to Abia and our economy will be better.”
He warned against de-marketing the state, noting that it would rub off negatively on the state and residents.
He noted that members of the Correspondents Chapel have been friendly, using their respective media platforms to promote government’s policies and programmes through “responsible and fair reportage.”
He said that although the Correspondents might not be Abia indigenes, they live and work in the state, so whatever happens in the state affects them. “Whatever you write or chose to say about the state, the public will believe you. The media have the power to make or mar any government or institution through their reportage,” he added.
He said government would ensure that the good relationship between it and the media would be sustained, and congratulated the Chapel on the inauguration of its new executive, assuring that the relationship between his office and the Correspondents would continue to flourish.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Chapel, Chief Sam Obinna Ibe, had hailed the Deputy Governor for his demonstrable loyalty and enduring legacies in the governance of the state.
Ibe explained that the visit was principally to familiarize members of the recently inaugurated new Chapel executive with the Abia Number Two citizen and promised that the Chapel would continue to partner with state.