Governor Otti suspends Abia health commissioner, Ngozi Okoronkwo with immediate effect over financial mismanagement & lack of accountability

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has suspended the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, with immediate effect.

“Yes, it is true that she has been suspended,” a Government House source told News Express Tuesday morning, June 11, 2024.

The commissioner was said to have been suspended over allegations of lack of accountability and financial mismanagement.

The embattled commissioner was reportedly suspended with immediate effect and indefinitely during the State Executive Council meeting held yesterday (Monday) in Umuahia, the state capital, reports News Express/Vanguard.

A top government official confirmed that the Governor asked the Health Commissioner “to step aside” during the meeting.

This, according to the source, is to give room for the investigation of the Commissioner and her Ministry concerning “barrage of complaints over financial mismanagement and lack of transparency.”

The source said: “There were issues of transparency in the delivery of duties and the Governor felt that some actions are not in tandem with his vision for accountability and transparency. He, then asked her to step aside for audit so that the process of audit will not be affected.

“It’s not as if it’s a death sentence or indictment. It’s just to strengthen the Governor’s resolve to ensure that there is accountability.”

Governor Otti was quoted as telling Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo: “Step aside let’s look through some of the issues raised against you by some people concerning some of your conducts and delivery of your mandate as Commissioner for Health.

“You know we – the Governor and those who work with him – subject ourselves to public scrutiny. People keep sending in messages, and when you see a barrage of these messages coming against one person or Ministry, the best thing to do is to look into the activities of such a person or Ministry. And that’s what the Governor has done.”

Meanwhile, efforts to get a reaction from the embattled Commissioner were unsuccessful as she did not pick calls put across to her.

As at the time of filing this report, she had yet to respond to a text message sent to her phone by our Correspondent.

Governor Otti had during the swearing-in of the commissioners, warned that he had zero tolerance for graft, and would not hesitate to wield the big stick should any of his Aides misbehave.

The Ministry of Health for the first time in the history of Abia State, got 15% of the state’s budget in the 2024 Appropriation Bill.

•Photo Caption: Suspended Abia Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo