Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has suspended the state Commissioner for Local Government and Rural Development, Samuel Okoronkwo.
Although Umahi did not state the reason for his action, it was learnt that it had to do with the lopsided selection of youths in the state for the Industrial Training Fund programme.
It was also gathered that Umahi, on Friday, asked the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Ignatius Unah, to take over from Okoronkwo.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Emma Anya, the governor announced the suspension while declaring open the ITF programme in Abakaliki, the state capital.

According to the statement, the governor also dissolved the state’s Committee on Employment.
The most senior officer in the ministry would assist the permanent secretary, the statement said.
The statement quoted Umahi as saying, “The Commissioner for Local Government is hereby suspended from office effective from now (Friday). And the most senior civil servant should take over until further notice.
“This administration, from day, one has been built on the principles of justice, equity and fairness. In some of our programmes, we ensured equality for local governments.
“But in this kind of empowerment, we must ensure equality for all the wards. So, what I expected to see is that they borrowed a leaf from what we are doing to empower about 3,000 of our women and youths.

“We are doing this and everybody is happy. We are called to build Ebonyi State, irrespective of the LGA. I think we are succeeding. Anybody that is going to take us back to the dark ages will be resisted.”
Umahi, however, stressed that his administration was ready to develop the capacity of the youths to become self-reliant.

He called on unemployed Ebonyi youths in other parts of the country to return home and benefit from his government’s youth-oriented programmes.
The governor said his administration would create over 100,000 jobs for the youths and women, especially in the agricultural sector.
Umahi promised to provide financial assistance to enable the trainees set up their businesses after acquiring the necessary skills from the programme.
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