By Victor R. Etok-Akpan
Truly, the Akwa Ibom people are hopeful that the Governor-Elect, Pst. Umo Eno, (PUE), would in keeping to his words, “run an inclusive government”, and such that, “it will not be, a winner take all affair because no one will be left behind”.
This is as, Akwaibomites are hoping that the tenure of PUE as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, upon his being sworn into office on May 29,2023 will be a “season of happiness” for the State, in the light of his “ARISE” Agenda for the State, to achieve peace, prosperity and the continuity with the development strides attain so far to the fruition of a productive livelihood for our success and therefore the promise for “happy days” ahead which will complement the ‘DAKKADA’ mantra of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration on the re-orientation of the Akwa Ibom people to believe in their abilities on a “can do” spirit to achieve greatness.
To this end, the “ARISE” Agenda is based on a five (5) point program of related development components on: Agricultural revolution, Rural development, Infrastructural maintenance/advancement, Security management and Education advancement. PUE, the Governor Elect, considers the “ARISE” Agenda as basically his “contract with the Akwa Ibom people”, and that it is “robust and “easy-to-digest” and “will positively affect livelihood in the long run”, therefore, he stressed on the need for a leadership “with the capacity and the competence” to deliver.
Thus, in presenting an analysis of the “ARISE Agenda at an interactive Town Hall meeting with members of professional bodies and interested groups in the State, PUE the Governor-Elect, pledged to “lead the people back to the farm” in referring to his agricultural revolution plans of the said Agenda, to practice agriculture at a “sustainable, commercial and export level”, backed with “well managed and efficient agricultural credit programs”, to make agriculture, “the way to go”, from traditional to more modern agriculture, to boast our productive output, for domestic and foreign markets. Considerably he maintained that his administration’s policy inclination will propagate the areas of our comparative advantage in agricultural cultivation, to re-store our Agric-business in building our economy.
Consequently, the Governor-Elect, PUE, noted the areas of our comparative advantage, in agriculture given the assessment needs of the different communities in the State on the ARISE Agenda such as for palm produce, with a plan to set-up palm oil mills in the catchment areas of the State for palm fresh fruit bunches, (ffb), as an investment approach to encourage farmers to supply ffb to the mills in exchange for cash and thereby, they will be impelled to revamp the yields of our natural wild palm-grooves and some abandoned palm-plantations, dotted throughout the landscape in the State for positive outcomes.
Yet another agricultural demanding area of our comparative advantage in the State for due investment, is the fishing industry, with plans by the assessment needs of the “ARISE Agenda, to provide trawlers, fishing boats/gears, storage facilities and the fish-craning industry, in developing our fishing activities to standards obtainable elsewhere in the developing countries, for greater earnings and an improvement in living standards for the people.
However, given the need to explore the “full value chain” of agriculture in various areas of interest, to our comparative advantage, including cassava cultivation and staple foods, as noted by the Governor-Elect, PUE, he therefore considers agriculture “a gold mine”, which will create jobs as “a practical aspect” of running the State’s economy and for which we believe, will bring smiles in making us a successful and a ‘happy’ lot and with pride for our achievements.
On rural development, the ARISE Agenda for the State by the Governor-Elect, PUE, is planned to create “a season of happiness” for our rural-dwellers, especially as efforts are to be targeted at checking on the said increasing rate of poverty and unemployment in our rural communities.
To this effect, with the tenure of PUE as the Governor of the State we are to witness the provision of skills development programmes for our teaming under employed youths, in tackling the problems of job creation as a task which PUE the Governor-Elect stressed is “a must to put them back to work”. Also is the prospect to introduce new small and medium scale enterprises (SME’s) into our rural communities, which would be followed up with efforts at connecting rural-Akwaibomites by providing for reliable and affordable internet access to close the digital divide and to help farmers and businesses in rural areas operate more efficiently and break into new markets as well as help create and keep wealth in rural communities as a way to grow the economy which in addition will create the needed middle-class of the society to stimulating the economy.
In fulfillment of this goal, modern living facilities such as markets, schools, healthcare delivery, all seasonal roads, rural electrification, recreational facilities and so on, are expected to be made available within rural communities to bring about its infrastructural and economic transformation across the state and to ultimately reduce the vexing rural-urban drift which is what the Governor-Elect, PUE, had spoken of, during his campaigns, on the need to halt the rural-urban migration, noting that, “it is a key component of any Government” and acceptably, a check against the dreaded problem of creating the “urban poor” populace in our towns and cities today.
Therefore, an integrated approach to rural development will see to the calibration of various local communities to serve as sub-systems of our economic wheels of progress and development for prosperity of the State’s economic system at large which in this wise, gladden the hearts of our rural inhabitants and all residents of the state in general and keep us happy.
On infrastructural maintenance and advancements, Akwa Ibom State is known to be blessed with unprecedented development and projects with our human endeavors in all fronts for our socio-economic well being. These include the Oku Ikono fly-over, the longest in South-South region; the 21 story Dakkada Tower, the 7th tallest in the nation; the best network of roads in the region and for leading in rural electrification, as well as constructing the most intelligent and smartest airport terminal in the region. Also is the longest bridge built by any State government, 1.15km link at Mbo connecting to Esit Eket. Others include, the Ibom Industrial City, Liberty oil and gas zone, Ibom Deep Sea-port, the Ibom Power Plant, the 5 – star L’ Marriden Hotels, a number of strategic manufacturing companies such as, the Syringe Manufacturing Company, the largest in Africa, the Electric Digital Metering Manufacturing Factory, the St. Gabriel Coconut Refinery Ltd, to mention but a few, with other numerous industries as well as those in the oil and gas sectors undergoing due process to start up accordingly.
In the light of these lofty investments as infrastructural and industrial facilities in the state, the Governor-Elect, PUE, considers it beneficial to identity with the programmes of his predecessors at the current level of development attained and likewise to take development higher for our common good in meeting with our social and economic needs for developmental strides, rather than buy into political and personal sentiments that would cause a reversal of the gains of the past years.
In this connection, the Governor-Elect, PUE, has promised to resuscitate and complete and commission the Ibom Science Park project and other abandoned legacy projects to add up with the new industrial infrastructural projects that are to be undertaken, for growth to our economy against a reckless abandon, which has cost the taxpayer the loss of huge sums of money.
Furthermore, on the Security management component of the “ARISE” Agenda, we may recall that one major reasons for the choice of Pst. Umo Eno (PUE), to govern the State was borne out of our believe in his strong moral principles, as a man of integrity and the humility suited for the office to represent our collective dignity, for the peaceful co-existence of all Akwaibomites. Therefore, it is known that his coming to assume power is without a “hidden influence” that is associated with persons on the sponsorship of group interest which could cause a divide in the State, given its tendencies for security breaches to the society, as we had experienced with killings, kidnappings and cult-wars in the past.
On this note, while promising the safety of lives and property in his campaign messages, the Governor-Elect, PUE, had always insisted that he will “ensure that our people continue to live in peace and that the sanctity of the human life would be protected through our security management”. He frowned at leaders whom he said, “use the youths for thuggery and violence when its suits their selfish purposes”. Contributing to this point, Governor Udom Emmanuel stressed that “Akwa Ibom will never go back to the dark days”.
The Governor-Elect, PUE, also do acknowledge the fact that the State has remained peaceful, since Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration and this is known to have contributed as a factor of the State’s basic social power for development in making Akwa Ibom an investors destination. For this reason, PUE has promised to further “strengthen the State’s security architecture” for greater performance and for a conducive environment for the successful implementation of his administration’s “ARISE” Agenda and with stating the fact that Governor Udom Emmanuel “does not compromise” on security, and that he “treats security issues seriously” to make Akwa Ibom State safe and prosperous.
Finally, the perspective of the “ARISE” Agenda’s educational program, foretells that the Governor-Elect, PUE, will make education toe the line of his predecessors on formal education in making primary and secondary education free and compulsory but in addition, it will be evident of the Five-point program of his “ARISE” Agenda for Agricultural revolution, Rural development, Infrastructural maintenance/advancement and Educational advancement as a whole.
Thus on assumption of office as Governor of the State, PUE hopefully will undertake a radical different approach to education given the need to emphasis on skills development, and de-emphasis the mere obtaining of certificates, by providing for training to-fit programs and the rehabilitation of schools to produce human resources as the most important capital development factor, based on the need to imbibe the essence of “practical orientation and know how” along with the knowledge of formal education. Also, scholarship schemes for post-graduates’ studies will be offered to the brightest students to “make good” on return in services to their father land.
On this direction the “ARISE” Agenda offers the “STEAM” concept for educational advancement, being an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics and considered to be relevant with the impending industrialization of the State, as the foundation for our educational programme.
By and large, given the value of the words of the Governors-Elect, PUE, upon unveiling his “ARISE” Agenda that “we will spend our resource to water the seeds of our collective prosperity”, while calling our attention to this as “what the ‘ARISE’ Agenda is all about”, therefore, our joy is hinged onto PUE’s “ARISE” Agenda in taking up the ruins of governance in the State to implement this blue print which he says is “a contract to continue on the path of peace, security and development” and acceptably, will make and keep us happy, just as we have enjoyed since the past seven years plus. It is on this note that we agree to join PUE’s administration to usher in a “season of happiness” with his tenure as Governor of Akwa Ibom State and for the expected resounding success of his administration.
Victor R. Etok-Akpan is a Public-Affairs Analyst and journalist and writes in from Ikot-Abasi LGA, Akwa-Ibom State. 08065608338
