By Ifeanyi Uwagwu
The Delta State Government has pledged continued collaboration with the Public Complaints Commission in its bid to tackle social injustice and other forms of maladministration across ministries, departments and agencies.
The pledge was made by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Kingsley Emu, when he received the Federal Commissioner, Hon. Matthew Uduaghan, and other management staff of the commission in his office during a courtesy visit yesterday.
According to the SSG, the commission, which is tasked with addressing issues of social injustice, must live up to its mandate to make the burden of governance lighter for the political class. He called on the management of the commission to adhere to the guiding principles upon which it was established.
“The government, in its wisdom, created this commission not as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) or a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), but as a body tasked with managing and settling conflicts. When that is done diligently, the burden of governance becomes lighter, and there will be less pressure on the political class,” he said.
Dr Emu therefore pledged that the Delta State Government would collaborate with the commission in addressing and investigating any case brought before it to a logical conclusion.
“As a government, we are ready to collaborate to address all critical allegations, well-investigated cases, issues, conflicts and risks before you and see how we can resolve them together. If we do not do that, we will have a challenge on our hands, and the reason for establishing the commission would be defeated,” he said.
Furthermore, Emu called on Hon. Uduaghan to ensure that the agency leaves no stone unturned in the discharge of its duties to earn the confidence of all stakeholders. He urged him not to follow the trend of half implementation of policies by some government agencies, advising that he should not see the position as a platform to stroll in and stroll out, but to approach it with purpose.
Earlier in his address, Hon. Uduaghan said the visit was aimed at sustaining the cordial inter-organisational relationship between the commission and the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, a relationship steeped in history when both offices operated under the same roof as partners in nation-building.
He made a standing request that the SSG’s office, being the fulcrum of administration in the state, should remain open to the commission for requisite interventions, consultations and collaborations as may be necessary in entrenching administrative justice in the bureaucracy, both now and in the future.
He also praised the state government for providing an enabling environment for the commission to perform its statutory functions in administrative justice delivery. He added that the commission may forward a complaint currently pending before the Ministry of Health to the SSG’s office for further consideration.
Giving an overview of the commission, Uduaghan stated that the agency, which operates in the 36 states of the federation, has seven zonal offices in the state located in Agbor, Warri, Ughelli, Ogwashi-Uku, Oleh, Ozoro and Udu.
