Rivers State Governor Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has commended his Chief Press Secretary Mr. David Iyofor for the wonderful work he’s doing as his spokesman and in particular his efforts in setting up the first ever website for the Governor of Rivers State Chibuike and putting together a book of press clips of the Governor’s activities, projects and initiatives.
Amaechi spoke at the unveiling ceremony of the website and the volume one of the book “Governor Amaechi’s Giant Strides In Rivers State And Beyond, The Press Testify”, which held at the Executive Council Chamber of Government House, Port Harcourt, Tuesday.
Represented by the senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District and chairman of the petroleum downstream committee in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe at the occasion said, “His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi is actually very pleased with the work of the office of the Chief Press Secretary and the several innovations that the office has brought on in trying to manage the image of the governor and the image of the activities of the governor in this e-age that we are in now”.
“I want to use this opportunity to publicly commend Mr. David Iyofor for the work that he has been able to do. So what you (Iyofor) have done again is another important process in that difficult assignment of trying to let the world see the governor as he really is, see the impact of what his work and his contributions have actually brought in the lives of ordinary people”.
He said the way Governor Amaechi emerged as the Rivers State Governor attracted public interest which has continued also to attract the interest of journalists in Governor Amaechi’s performance.
Speaking in his personal capacity, Senator Abe said that the Rivers State Governor has made achievements that are fit to be so widely publicized although Governor Amaechi he said seems not so favourably disposed to using the press to give publicity to his accomplishments.
“All those things are things that naturally attract the press but at the other end you have a governor who believes that if you say something personal about him you are just wasting your time and you know praise singing and all that. So except the governor is compelled by circumstances he will never see the press as an instrument of promoting himself and his work which actually is the work of a government.”
“So on the other end, you have a Chief Press Secretary whose work is to promote the man who does not want to be promoted, how do you define that challenge?……And I want to use this opportunity to publicly commend David Iyofor for the work that he has been able to do in very difficult circumstances because when you have a governor who does not want you to praise him or does not even want you to say something nice about him, its extremely difficult for David to do his work…”
Senator Abe again said the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Amaechi understands that it is not just about his CPS’ job but “it is important to the state that the people both in and out of the state should actually feel the impact of the very many changes that have taken place in Rivers State”.
“Let me also thank you (Iyofor) for the website which would also add to the very vast amount of information we need to get out to the public about what the government has done”, he added.
He lauded Governor Amaechi’s innovations in completed and other ongoing projects especially in the health, education and road sectors among others, stressing that the projects were being talked about positively everywhere.
On the book, Senator Abe said, “If you go through this book you will easily be able to follow the many programmes and achievements and innovations and even the style and character of the Governor as far as his public outing is concerned and I really want to recommend this book to anybody who is interested in Rivers State”.
Earlier, the Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Governor, Mr David Iyofor had spoken about his two new initiatives among others.
“We are here today to unveil two new initiatives from the Press Unit of Government House. From the moment I took over as Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, I have always believed that for me to perform effectively and for me to deliver I need to think out of the box and the same idea I have inculcated in virtually every member of the press unit and since I came on board we have tried to come up with a couple of new initiatives and today we are here to unveil two of these initiatives”.
The two new initiatives he said were the first Rivers State Governor’s website to be owned by any Rivers State Governor and the volume one of the book which is a collection of press reports on the governor from May, 29 when he assumed office for a second term to December 31, 2011.
