By Uket Oka, Calabar
The Cross River State House of Assembly has confirmed Governor Otu’s nominees for appointment as Chairman and members of the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Those Confirmed for CROSIEC are; Mr Ekong Edet Boco, who is to serve as Chairman while Mrs Rose Banku Atep, Mr Adogah, Joseph Ipuole, Eutendala Eno, and Barr Daniel Edet are to serve as Members of the Commission.
Also confirmed as members are Dr Eyo Otu Eyo, Mr Jerry Adie Akabisong and Dr Lawrence Edu, who is to serve as secretary.
The confirmation followed the deliberation on a letter from Governor Bassey Edet Out on Monday, requesting the House of Assembly to grant the consequential confirmation of the appointments.
Before the confirmation, the nominees were screened by the House which had dissolved into the Committee of the Whole, where the legislators interacted with them.
In their separate remarks, the State lawmakers observed that the nominees were all people of integrity, who would contribute greatly to the success of the present administration.
Speaking to Journalists after his confirmation, the newly confirmed Chairman of CROSIEC, Mr Ekong Boco, expressed gratitude to God and the State Governor for finding him worthy of the appointment.
Boco promised to be objective, fair and give every Cross Riverian who wants to contest in any election, a level playing ground to achieve their ambition.
” I have conducted all kinds of elections including zero party elections. I spent a better part of my years in INEC so I am coming to CROSIEC equipped. I assure Cross Riverians that we shall give everyone a level playing ground to contest all elections,” the CROSIEC Chairman assured.
Also speaking, one of nominees, a former Clerk of the State House of Assembly, Mr Jerry Adie Akabisong, expressed gratitude to the governor for his appointment.
Akabisong promised to use his wealth of experience, spanning several years in the civil service to bear on the new assignment.
In a related development, the State Assembly has confirmed nominees to be appointed as Chairman and members of the State Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Those Confirmed include; the Chairman, Prince Edwin Okon, who has been the Acting Chairman of IRS as well as Dr Ndoma Odey, Mr Francis Higgins and Barr Nta Ekpiken, who are to serve as Members.
Speaking to Journalists after the confirmation, the Chairman of IRS, Prince Edwin Okon, restated his commitment to improving the revenue generation of the State through several innovations and initiatives.
Okon said that the addition of the new members into the IRS team would greatly enhance their services.
“I want to thank His Excellency, the Governor for this opportunity to serve. There is a tax gap in revenue generation in the State, we are harmonizing the taxes in line with what the Federal Government is doing. We have noticed that so many companies that outsourced their services don’t pay the right taxes. So we have set up a team to go after them. The inclusion of new members into the IRS team will improve our capacity for revenue generation,” he stated.
Commenting on their confirmations, the Speaker of the 10th Assembly, Rt Hon Elvert Ayambem, charged all the nominees to put in their best in their new assignments.
Ayambem also commended the State Governor, Prince Bassey Otu, for appointing people with integrity, being gender sensitive as well as spreading the appointments evenly across the three senatorial districts of the State.
