…Stresses need for officials to imbibe maintenance culture
…as Deputy Governor-led committee refurbishes 56 abandoned Government vehicles
By Ibrahim Bakare
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state has stressed the need for government officials to imbibe the culture of maintenance and managing public property at their disposal.
The Governor was speaking at the occasion of handing over of refurbished government vehicles at the Government House, Gombe.
He said it is very pertinent for government to be rational in resource management with a view to earning confidence and trust of the people.
The committee, headed by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Manassah Daniel Jatau had repaired 56 hither to abandoned vehicles of various models.
Governor Yahaya, appreciated the Deputy Governor for carrying out the assignment diligently, having earlier undertaken a similar one in the refurbishment of fire fighting trucks that were abandoned by the previous administration.
He also lauded the civil service reform committee which he described as the brain behind identifying about 70 abandoned faulty vehicles across the MDAs in the state.
The Governor, who directed the committee to return all the repaired vehicles to the ministries, departments and agencies ( MDA’s) they were pooled, charged public office holders in the state to safeguard public property at their disposal.
The Governor who decried the neglect of public property by those saddled with the responsibility of their management and maintenance, said “We must go back and retrace our steps. We must imbibe the spirit of maintenance of public property. We must do the right thing as far as this administration is concerned”.
According to him, the refurbishing of the hither to unserviceable vehicles is aimed at instilling the culture of maintenance in the minds of civil and public servants as well as adherence to costs cutting measures aimed at ensuring prudent and effective management of resources.
He added that ” the era where Government vehicles were perceived as nobody’s property is over”.
Furthermore, the governor strongly emphasized that government officials entrusted with public property owe it a duty to manage them with extra care the way they manage their own property.
“Resource management is very imminent especially with the dwindling oil price in the world market today which may have effect on the FG’s revenue generation and by implication Gombe state”, the Governor said
“These 56 refurbished vehicles are also government resources and therefore have to be managed properly, warning that government will develop monitoring mechanism to ensure vehicles are properly managed.
Conducting the Governor round to inspect the vehicles, the Chairman of the committee, who is also the state Deputy Governor, Dr. Manassah Daniel Jatau commended Governor Yahaya for the prudent management of state resources since his assumption of office.
He disclosed that ” further to the directive of His Excellency, we were able to repair 56 vehicles of various models and the vehicles are now serviceable. However, 44 others were considered ‘economically unwise” to be repaired and we therefore suggest that the state Government constitutes a board of survey with a view to auctioning them in line with extant laws.”