On Thursday, the Enugu State House of Assembly screened and cleared the 15 commissioner-nominees whose names were sent to it by Governor Peter Mbah.

The screening was a marked departure from when nominees were told to take a bow and leave, as they were grilled for hours.

Thursday’s grilling, however, exempted three former commissioners: Okechukwu Ogbodo, Emmanuel Obi and Kingsley Udeh, who were asked to “take a bow and leave”.

Speaker of the house, Uchenna Ugwu (PDP-Udi North), allowed members to quiz the commissioner-nominees, especially on people’s welfare, Internally-Generated Revenue and the general empowerment of residents.

Fielding questions from the lawmakers, Lawrence Eze, a commissioner-nominee, said if given the Works portfolio, he would ensure that contractors delivered high-quality jobs.

Mr Eze said Enugu needed quality roads that could stand the test of time.

He added that the roads must be relatively inexpensive to maintain so that such money could be deployed to other uses.

Another commissioner-nominee, Gerald Otiji, said given the opportunity to serve, he would ensure that Enugu enjoys sustainable energy by exploiting the gas deposit in the state.

“With your cooperation, Enugu State’s energy needs can be powered with gas for 30 years, and each local government can have 50mw of electricity from the abundant natural gas in the state,” Mr Otiji said.

Yet another nominee, Adora Chukwu, said as commissioner, she would help the governor to achieve his campaign mantra of “Tomorrow is here”.

“I will use my wealth of experience and learning to uplift the status of the state and get our people to be productive,’’ she said. 

(NAN)