Tomorrow, all roads will lead to Asan Ibibio, Ikot Oku Ikono, Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, for the grand reception put together by the Ibibio Nation for one of their own, Governor Udom Emmanuel. In this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO, Editor, Charles Udoh, commissioner for Information and Strategy, Akwa Ibom State, who also is chairman, media and publicity Committee of the reception, said the governor has done his people proud and deserves every honour that Ibibio Nation has for him. He also spoke on some of the achievements of the Emmanuel administration in the last two years. Excerpts:
The Ibibio Nation tomorrow will be celebrating one of their own but it is said that ‘a prophet is without honour at home’ this however, appears to be a reverse in this case. You are from that area of the state. What actually is the reason for this honour?
Thank you so much for this question. Governor Udom Emmanuel is an illustrious son who has diligently left a footprint in everything he does, including in career path from his days as a banker; where he rose to the very top as executive director and chief financial officer of Zenith Bank, before he was called upon to serve the state: first as secretary to state government; and later he became the governor. The people of Ibibio are proud of his achievements in just 24 months in office, despite the challenges of a receding economy. He has recorded landmark achievements as we proudly showcase during his second anniversary. Today, Akwa Ibom State is one of the few states in Nigeria where civil servants can proudly expect salary as and when due. Salaries of civil servants in the state are fully paid as and when due. If you add the fact that the Akwa Ibom government has been centred on the civil service for a long time, payment of salary becomes a big deal; because that is the driver of the economy.
Beyond that, the government has also ensured that the major income drain of civil servants: medication and education are all taken care of. Today, Akwa Ibom State is one of the very few states in Nigeria where basic education- primary and secondary school education- is free and compulsory. The government of Akwa Ibom State also ensures that the WAEC fees of all indigenes of the state in public schools are paid for. We spend N600 million every year to pay WEAC fee for indigenes of the state. The dream of the government of Akwa Ibom State is to ensure that the dream of the future of the state is well built and laid down for the children of the state. We believe the youths are the future and if you don’t prepare that ground; if you don’t prepare them well for the challenges of the future they will not be able to take the mantle of leadership when the time comes and education is one of the key tools you can give a young person to equip him or her. We can say we have the best education tourism is Akwa Ibom State because children of neighbouring states are coming to take the advantage of the free education there. We are proud of that because we don’t believe in training our children and not training our neighbours’; your children would we be at risk. Medicare is also free; pregnant women have antenatal care in all public hospitals; children below five years old are also taken care of for free in public hospitals. If you aggregate all these, you find out that despite the lean resources, the government still manages to take care of the need of the people. Now, you move to the next level which is our dream to make Akwa Ibom the industrial hub of Nigeria. And at some level, especially in tourism, we made a giant stride in that. We feel very proud that National Bureau for Statistics listed Akwa Ibom State as preferred investment destination in Nigeria after Lagos State in 2016. In the last 24 months we have been working seriously in providing the enabling environment for industrialisation; from road infrastructure to power; we are not just building roads, but we are building economic roads; roads to connect the state to be able to evacuate goods and services from the hinterland to the commercial centres of the state. In a few months’ time we would have completed Africa’s biggest syringes factory. Now, those syringes are imported all over the world and the only destination where it is imported in Africa is South Africa, and it has capacity of 95 million syringes per annum. But we are about commissioning a syringe factory that has a 400 million capacity syringes per annum. And by year 2 and 3, because it is built by an improvement capacity, it will produce up to 1 billion syringes per annum when it is fully operational. Added to that is the electricity meter production factory we also have; that is also in full flight; which will be ready for commissioning later this year or early next year.
What about the toothpick and pencil factories?
The toothpick is fully on. Today, we proudly supply two states in Nigeria. In the pencil and toothpick factory, because they are cottage industry, what we did was to site them in the same location to have them share services to reduce the cost of running them. The interesting thing about pencil is that we are producing it using old recycled newspapers. So, it creates a value chain whereby we don’t have to destroy the ecosystem. Old newspapers have been used and turned into pencil. We also use bamboo sticks, which are very common materials. In May, we flagged off coconut refinery and the flour mill, and those are ongoing projects that we believe that in another 12-15 months we will begin to see things happening in reality. Once these projects begin to run, you find out there would be employment opportunities for the unemployed and people in the business sector will have the opportunity to showcase their products. Remember, Governor Emmanuel has also said his dream is to build a sustainable economy in Akwa Ibom State; and all these are projects that will outlive his administration. We are probably the only state in Nigeria that builds roads that last for months. Once the industrialisation project of the government takes off, we are going to see traffic on those roads; that is why we are building drainage to ensure that the roads are protected and reliable as long as it can be.
We are also focusing on Agriculture. Many years ago Nigeria was an agriculture economy. But the advent of oil has relegated that to the background. Suddenly, nobody focuses on agriculture any longer; and now, the price of food stuff has gone high. So, what we are doing in Akwa Ibom State is to begin to drive people back to farming. Our dream is that overtime; we will be able to apply basic cost of demand and supply; bring down the prices of food stuff because if we are able to flood the market with food stuff, the prices will come down. But however, to ensure that the agricultural dream is fully in flight, government has ensured that it provides a lot of incentives to farmers like fertilizers, including training. We have also ensured that the roads we are building link the agriculture nerve centres of the state. Once we are able to evacuate farmers and their goods and service we will be able to see the flooding of this produce in the market place which will help us to drive down the prices of these things.
Today also, the dream of entrepreneurship is rekindled, and agriculture is where the people should focus on. We have young men who would have been seeking and applying for jobs going back to farm because they now know they could make money from farming.
And also, Ibibio, which is the governor’s tribe and the Nigeria’s 4th largest ethnic group, found it worthy to celebrate its own. I can sit here the whole day talking about the achievements of Governor Udom Emmanuel. There are very few states in Nigeria that have been able to record the landmark we have recorded; and this is done in only 24 months in office, despite the challenges of the economy and dwindling resources. We are reversing the trend that “a prophet is not honoured at home”. Our own has done well and we can proudly showcase his scorecard to the world. So, we are celebrating him come July 10, 2017, at the ancestral home of the Ibibio. It is an event that is going to bring together all sons and daughters of Ibibio across the world to come and celebrate their own; and to also say to the governor we love you and what you are doing; that will encourage him to do more.
To what extent are you carrying along the masses of Ibibio, or is it elite thing?
Well, normally, the umbrella vehicle of Ibibio nation connotes that everybody is in one unit, whatever groups they are. We will under the same umbrella as Ibibio nation celebrate our own. It is an all-encompassing thing, where everybody, from the clergy to traditional ruler, and every son and daughter of Ibibio land has reason, in unity, to celebrate their own. We are one people; we are celebrating our own with one voice. Again, tomorrow’s date was carefully selected because the governor’s birthday is onJuly 11, 2017. We want to use the occasion to say to him, happy birthday.
May we know some of the highlights of the event?
The chairman of the occasion will be the retired Air Marshal Nsikak-Abasi Essien Eduok, one time chief of air staff of Nigeria, who is also a proud son of Ibibio. The former military governor of the state, Etuekong Idongesit Nkanga is the chairman, Central Planning Committee that has put this together; he is the main driver of this. We expect that we are going to have some governors. The chairman of the PDP Governors Forum will be there and he is expected to make a speech. We are also expected to have other dignitaries coming in to grace the occasion. It is going to be a historic event. We are expecting to have about 20, 000 people turn up at the ancestral home to celebrate his achievements. And of course, most importantly, give him the confidence to do much more than he has done; and if need be, do more in his second term.
It appears Ibibio nation is blessed in terms of people who have achieved in their respective endeavours. What do you think is responsible for the light in that area of the state?
I think it is because of the fact that as a people, we have always embraced hard work, excellence and integrity. And of course, diligence has always been a key component of the character of an Ibibio person (man or woman). This ensures that wherever you find any Ibibio person he or she wants to rise to greatness; that led to the governor introducing the ‘Dakkada Creed’, which is a call to greatness. When you are passionate about the things you do no matter the obstacles you can conquer the world. That is what is responsible for our successes; and thankfully, the younger people are imbibing these values. Yes, we believe that most of us who are leaders today have done our bits, but the youths should be able to surpass whatever we have achieved today and excel at higher platforms.
What level of cooperation has the current Governor Emmanuel received from the Ibibio nation?
I must say that the support for Governor Emmanuel is unanimous and that is why I keep saying that the Ibibio nation is rising in one voice in support of the celebration of their own. There has never been a time when there has ever been an iota of doubt as it regards the support the governor enjoys from Ibibio people. Governor Udom Emmanuel is very popular and transparent person; very religious-minded. That has been a key thing driving his governance and everything he has done; and ensuring that has undiluted support across all ethnic and religious platforms, and even political platforms.
