Governor Bassey Edet Otu of Cross River State has expressed dismay over the growing trend of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) abandoning official government vehicles at mechanic workshops, often for minor, fixable issues. The governor described this practice as a breach of asset management protocols and a disregard for the administration’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, accountability, and efficiency.
In a strongly worded directive issued through his Chief Press Secretary, Linus Obogo, Governor Otu mandated all MDAs to conduct a comprehensive audit of vehicles currently under repair or parked at workshops, both within and outside the state. The audit, which must be submitted to the Office of the Special Adviser on Asset Management and Recovery within three weeks, aims to create an inventory of these vehicles and ensure their swift repair and return to the government’s operational fleet.
The governor’s office emphasized that any vehicle found idle, abandoned, or underutilized without justifiable reason will be recovered by the Department of Asset Management and Recovery and reassigned to MDAs with urgent operational needs. This move underscores the administration’s zero-tolerance policy for negligence and mismanagement of public resources.
“This conduct reflects a worrisome disregard for fiscal responsibility,” Obogo stated, adding that failure to comply with the directive will attract sanctions under civil service rules and regulatory frameworks.
The statement reads in part:
“For the avoidance of doubt, the State Government wishes to categorically state that any official vehicle found to be idle, abandoned, or underutilised without verifiable justification shall be recovered by the Department of Asset Management and Recovery without further recourse and redeployed to MDAs with pressing operational demands.
“This directive is to be accorded the highest level of administrative attention, as any further instances of negligence, inefficiency, or willful dissipation of public resources shall attract appropriate sanctions in line with extant civil service rules and applicable regulatory frameworks.”
