Cross River State governor, Senator Ben Ayade, on Tuesday, paid an unscheduled visit to some ministries where he ordered three commissioners to be locked out for failure to be at their offices at 8.00 a.m. Ministries visited by the governor included Agriculture, Water Resources, Women Affairs and Sustainable Development.

At the Ministry of Agriculture, where Governor Ayade first visited, neither the commissioner, Professor Egrinya Eneji, nor any of the directors was available to receive him. During his visit to the Ministry of Water Resources, the governor became angry when he found out that the commissioner, Gabe Odu Orji, was not on duty, making him to order that the gate to the ministry be locked. Also at the Ministry of Sustainable Development, it was the same situation as the commissioner, Oliver Orok, had yet to report for work.

Of the four ministries visited, only the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Stella Odey, was on seat at 8.00 a.m. The governor who expressed his disappointment at the lack of dedication to duty by the various heads of the ministries particularly commended Odey for what he described as her devotion to duty. “I am sad over what I saw this morning. It is shocking that it is already gone past 8.00 a.m yet commissioners are not found on their seats. I will not take kindly to this culture of lateness to work and I am going to do something about it,” he said.