Two weeks after Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State presented the 2009 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly for legislative deliberations, aas he enjoined Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to make meaningful contributions for the state to realize its dreams.

While declaring open a two day 2008 Second Executive Council Retreat for Presentation of 2009 Action Plan at the Convention Centre, Obudu Ranch Resort, Wednesday, Imoke disclosed that the essence of the retreat was to enable participants from the MDAs brainstorm on a number of issues affecting programmes and polices of the state with the view of serving the people.

He reasoned that it was expected of them to improve on what was presented during the first retreat which was held in March, adding that though some progress were made, there were still some challenges especially in the area of Due Process and Procurement.

The Governor noted that suggestions made by participants should be based on identified targets in order to achieve the administration's desire of serving the people especially those that need government most, stressing that 2009 proposes new challenges and it was appropriate to start now and plan ahead to realize the dreams of serving the people.

He called on them to tighten their belt and focus on meaningful programmes through proper time, fund and human resources management, stating that though Cross River is poor in terms of funds, the retreat should understand the need for efficiency to improve on performance while managing available resources.

Imoke urged them to make sacrifice by serving the state to achieve what is in the budget as every one of them was expected to share a common goal for the state to succeed because all was expected, as a duty, to fine tune their presentations as well as proffer solution to address critical areas.

He explained that training and retraining programmes are rested in the office of the Head of Service which must be tailored to address key areas of need, stressing that government would not fund luxuries as its focus is on things that will impact positively on the people.

Deliberations at the retreat were divided into seven grouping clusters which included group one (a)

Infrastructure, group one (b) Environmental Development, group two Education and Social Development, group three Industry and Housing, group four Performance Management, group five Health, group six Institutional and seven Tourism and Culture and every group was expected to present a report using guiding templates with reference to one of its Ministry, Department or Agency.

According to the facilitor of the retreat Eileen C. Shaiyen Managing Director H. Pierson Associates Ltd, in her scores of the groups after the presentation, Health Cluster came first, Institutional Cluster second while Performance Management cluster came third.

Participants included the Deputy Governor, Mr. Efiok Cobham, State Chairman and Executive of PDP, Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, Directors, Chairmen and Directors General of Agencies, Boards and commissions.