Gov Orji receives parting award, speaks on vision as Abia Governor

Out-going Governor of Abia State, Theodore Orji has explained that his vision in governance was to build a new Abia anchored on equity, justice and fairness.

Receiving award from the Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ASOPADEC) at the Michael Okpara Auditorium in Umuahia, Orji pointed out that the emergence of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu as Governor-elect was a further testimony of government’s success and vision for a new Abia that is anchored on fairness, equity and fairness.

ASOPADEC honoured the Abia Chief Executive with the award of Epitome of Equity and Justice, as a parting gift for his relentless effort in developing the state.

Orji noted that the significance of the award was that it came from a unique organisation which also is a beneficiary of government’s push for equity, fairness and justice.

“I am, therefore, accepting this award as a valediction that whenever government and the people make selfless sacrifice they can attain new pedestal of hope,” he said.

Orji commended ASOPADEC for achieving so much in the state, stressing that “these achievements provide clear testimony that equity, fairness and justice can be a catalyst for socio-political and economic change in Abia State.”

He saluted the pioneer chairman of ASOPADEC, Chief Sam Wogu, the management and board of the commission for doing well.

Chairman of ASOPADEC, Chief Emeka Stanley, said at the award ceremony Thursday that the commission merely expressing its gratitude to the governor for working tirelessly to put Abia on the progressive map of development.

According to Stanley, the governor, through his fatherly disposition as an epitome of equity and fairness, ensured that all the 17 local government areas in Abia were carried along in the operations of ASOPADEC, notwithstanding that other oil producing states in the country allow their own commissions to exclusively take care of Oil producing communities and local governments

In a lecture on the Governance of Abia state by the Vice Chancellor, Abia State University, Uturu, Prof Chibuzo Ogbuagu, said equity and justice pervade virtually everything that Orji has done in governance, adding that the governor has pushed the state to enviable heights through his many achievements which cut across many sectors.