Mrs Joy Nwakanma, wife of two-time Deputy Governor Abia State, Chief Eric Acho Nwakanma, was on Monday sworn-in as a Permanent Secretary in the state’s civil service.

Sworn-in with her was the Director of Finance, Government House, Mr Romanus Madu.

Speaking at the ceremony held at the Executive Council Chambers of Government House, Umuahia, the State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, charged Permanent Secretaries and the entire Abia workforce to gird their loins for the development of the state.

Ikpeazu tasked the civil servants to work hard to improve the Internally Generated-Revenue (IGR) of Abia to provide the needed resources for driving the development of the state.

He said the poor state of the economy demands that Abia should look inwards to raise funds for her services.

His words: “I want to seize this opportunity to also charge all permanent secretaries, and by extension, the entire workforce to gird their loins now for greater task which is the development of our state.

“We have come to serve at a time that is very precarious because of the downturn in the economy of our country and at a time when this state has an issue and the burden of remaining afloat as a state.

“So whatever we require to develop our state must be sourced from within our potentials here.”

Dr Ikpeazu noted that the public service was the oil that lubricates the engine of government, hence the huge resources spent on them and urged them to justify such investment by being dedicated to duty.

He said that having overcome all distractions, he has no reason not to perform and vowed that non conformists will be shown the way out of the service in the days ahead.

The governor charged the new Permanent Secretaries to avoid anything that would make them to become a cog on the wheel of progress in the state.

While congratulating the new Permanent Secretaries, Ikpeazu enjoined them to remain loyal to the state government and cue into the vision of his administration’s five pillars of health, education, agriculture, commerce and industry as well as oil and gas to drive development in the state.

Responding on behalf of her colleague, Mrs Nwakanma thanked the governor for elevating them to the rank of permanent secretaries and promised that they would work with the Governor to bring his vision to reality.

•Photo shows Governor Ikpeazu.