Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, Umuahia
The wife of the Abia State Governor, Mrs Priscillia Otti, has said the administration of Governor Alex Otti, will leave no stone unturned at ensuring the efficiency of service delivery in the state.
Mrs Otti spoke in Umuahia, the state capital on Thursday, shortly after unveilling the Integrated Information and Communication Technology, ICT work station at the state Ministry of Justice.
She commended the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ikechukwu Uwanna,
for establishing the centre, adding that it will aid lawyers working in the ministry to discharge their duties without delays.
The Abia first lady charged the staff of the ministry to ensure that all the equipment in the facility are well maintained in order to achieve the aim of establishing the work station.
Earlier, the Attorney General explained that the centre was established because of the pressing need for staff of the ministry to have a private centre to produce their documents.
He revealed that prior to his assumption of office as the commissioner for Justice, lawyers working in the ministry were typing their documents in public business centers, which was not healthy for handling government official and confidential information.
He said, “This work station was established out of a need. When I came into the ministry as the Attorney General, the various departments summited their handover notes to me. After studying those handover notes, I discovered that they all stated that they needed computers that will make their work easier.
“So, given that our governor had advocated for digitalization of offices to make job easier for workers during his campaigns, I had to marry the two; that was how we came up with the idea of this digital ICT work station which will enable law officers in the ministry produce their documents with ease.
“Before now, almost all our documents were produced at Finbarrs Road and that exposed our state to alot of data risk. Data risk is a major risk all over the world. But today, we have a situation where all our documents will be produced within the ministry without exposing them.
“Today, we are also unveilling our partnership with the law pavelion, where at the click of a button all the laws of Abia State can be accessed with cases relating to them.
“This facility will improve our ranking in the ease of doing business, make access to justice better, and make the state peaceful and progressive.”
In her remark, the director of legal services and Chairman of the ministerial tender board for the ICT work station, Mrs Ajike Uwaoma, said the centre is a one stop shop for lawyers in the ministry to do their job.
She commended the governor for his magnanimity for approving the project, adding that it will speed up the dispensation of Justice in the state.
She said, “The project is about the digitalization of the laws of Abia state and Abia State Ministry of Justice digital work station.
“It’s a one stop shop where lawyers can comfortably walk in and have all the facilities they require to do their job ranging from the internet facilities, desktop computers, printers, scanners and photocopying machines.
“It will stop the risk of exposing of very critical sensitive government legal documents through the use of public business centres.
“All the lawyers in the ministry have to do is to walk in here and they will be able to do their printing of court processes for litigation, prosecution and administration of estate no matter how voluminous they might be.
“It will speed up justice dispensation in the state because this facility is fully solar empowered. The staff of the ministry will be trained in order to bring them up to speed on how to use the facilities in the work station.