Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno has granted the wish of a school boy spotted during the inauguration of the official residence of the Chairman of Eket Local Government Council and a Model Primary School in Idung Offiong, Eket LGA.
The boy was leading a group of other pupils to render a welcome song in the State governor’s honour, when he was seen and appreciated.
On questioning the boy, he demanded that the governor offers his mother an employment as a School teacher.
“On my interaction with the little boy, he said ‘Your Excellency, my mother has NCE, but she has no job to take care of us. So please, give my mother a job’. He sounded so intelligent and refined. So, I declare that his mother be employed immediately by the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB,” Governor Eno declared.
Governor Eno also inaugurated the official residence of the Chairman of Eket Local Government Council.
Commissioning the Chairman’s lodge, initiated, built and furnished by the State Government, the Governor expressed delight that the project had come to reality.
He said, “This is one of the happiest days in the last two years of my administration, because to me, it was not just making a law to make Council Chairmen live in their Local Government Areas and serve their people, but how to motivate them to live there? I believe the answer to that question is here today.”
The Governor recalled that his administration had promised to build lodges for the 31 Chairmen of Local Government Areas in the State, and that the one commissioned will serve as a prototype for contractors to replicate across the remaining 30 Local Government Areas.
“So today, I’m happy that God has made it possible for us to finish this building on time. I can guarantee other Council Chairmen that in the next one month, we will flag off the building of the remaining 30 Lodges.
“We have not asked you to bring money from your votes so that you don’t short change your people. As a State Government, funding of these projects is ready and intact. And, we have never and will never tamper with the allocation to our Local Government Councils,” he said.
Pastor Eno charged Council Chairmen to endeavour to dwell among their people in order to effectively feel their pulse.
“If you are a good Chairman, why are you running away from your people. You have to stay with them, and I thank you for staying.
“I really appreciate you for the good work that you’re doing. I can see healthy developmental competition among the Chairmen. I love that competition because you are competing with projects in your various Local Government Areas. Let this enhance more of your capacity, and you’ll live well to serve your people,” he urged.
Welcoming the Governor to Eket Local Government Area, the Council Chairman, Hon Akaniyene Tommey thanked Governor Eno for delivering life-touching projects across the 31 local Government areas of the State within just two years in office.
He appreciated the Governor for strategically citing the school in the rural area to enable the people at the grassroots benefit from the project which, according to him, has complemented the rural development Agenda of his administration.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ubong Umo, thanked the Governor for providing a master class facility that will help mould Akwa Ibom children for the future, describing the governor as a model of a project exhibition amongst all sub-nationals in Nigeria, while highlighting the strategic components of the projects.
Giving an overview of the Chairman’s Lodge project, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Frank Archibong congratulated Governor Eno for leaving an imprint of development in every Local Government and Ward across the State, describing the gesture as the hallmark of his second anniversary in office.
Mr Archibong acknowledged members of the State Executive Council in their efforts in interpreting the vision of the administration across all sectors as evident in developments in all the LGAs of the State.
He described the newly- completed Chairman’s residence as a product of one of Governor Umo Eno’s campaign visions to provide befitting lodges for all Council executives in their local Governments and bring governance closer to the people at the grassroots.
He reaffirmed that the edifice is a typical model of what is to be replicated simultaneously across the remaining 30 Local Government Areas of the State and described the edifice as a mini-Government House with a duplex of five bedrooms with two large befitting sitting rooms for aides and a mini banquet hall situated in one of the most secure areas in the Eket metropolis.
In his remarks, the Director- General of the Umo Eno/Akon Eyakenyi 2023 campaign, Chief Assam Assam SAN, applauded the Governor for his commitment to the development of rural areas as contained in the ARISE Agenda, saying that truly the Governor was prepared for leadership.
The event was graced by members of the State Executive Council, political class, traditional rulers, and the general public.