Photo caption: Ebonyi State Gov, Francis Nwifiru
Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has swapped three members of his cabinet in a minor reshuffling.
In the redeployment, the state Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Jude Okpor, was redeployed to the Ministry of Rural Development, while Chief Ikeuwa Omebe, who was in charge of the ministry, was redeployed to the Information Ministry.
The Commissioner for Primary and Secondary Education, Paul Nwobashi, was redeployed to the Ministry of Border Peace and Conflict Resolution, while the commissioner in the ministry, Dr. Donatus Ilang, was redeployed to the Primary and Secondary Education Ministry.
The new Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Ikeuwa Omebeh, who announced the development on Tuesday, Nwifuru gave the state Commissioner for Environment, Victor Chukwu and his Tertiary Education counterpart, Prof. Amari Omaka (SAN), six months to sit up or face some punitive measures.
Omebeh further said that the exco approved the 2026-2028 Medium Term Expenditure Framework Work.
“The MTEF is a strategic financial planning document that encompasses the Economic and Fiscal Update (EFU), the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), and the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) for the state over the next three years,” he said.
According to him, the exco approved the supply and installation of Independent Captive Power Generation Plants to give 24-hour metered electric power to specific public and private industries/institutions in the state.
He noted that the project will commence with one unit of the plant that will generate three Megawatts and is sited at ICT University Oferekpe, Agbaja.
On rural development, Ikeuwa said exco approved the participation of Ebonyi State in the E-HEART project of the federal government and the subsequent payment of counterpart funding for the project. “E-HEART is an acronym that stands for energy for health, education, agriculture, rural development, and transportation.”
“Council received and approved the Ebonyi Business Enabling Reform Action Plan (BERAP) 2024, which indicates the progressive performance of the state in the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Programme. This is intended to meet the World Bank eligibility criteria for implementation of the SABER Programme in 2025,” he added.
