Governor Udom Emmanuel
By Joe Iniodu
As Governor Udom Emmanuel steps out as recipient of Leadership
Newspaper Governor of the Year, 2016, many are bound to ask the
question, why him?
The question is even more compelling as the ownership
of the paper is traceable to someone who is not only a chieftain of a
party other than the one which the governor belongs; he is also neither
from his region or linguistic group. Read more as shared after the cut...
Mr. Nda-Isaiah, a onetime
presidential aspirant of APC and founder of Leadership Newspaper is from
Niger State. But a timeless adage asserts that there is no
hiding place for a goldfish. Even in a shoal, goldfish is
distinguishable because of its uniqueness.
Governor Udom Emanuel is
equally so fated not because he is blessed with debonair looks or wired
to high places or has resources to buy awards; it is that he knows how
to put his hands on the plow to provide service.
It is that he
understands the meaning of service and has the capacity and political
will to provide it. And in a clime where democracy profits is fast
becoming a mirage in the face of high expectations that the people were
psychologically adjusted to hope for, the performance of Governor
Emmanuel brings hope and satiates expectations.
On October 6,
2016 Governor Emmanuel was at Leadership Newspaper Award Ceremony, not
as an Award recipient but as a keynote speaker. The governor used the
platform to mount advocacy for good governance that would improve the
lots of Nigerians as well as that of the Nation.
He did not lose sight
of the imperative of unity as a critical item in the Nation’s march to
advancement. He proffered solutions to a myriad of the country’s
challenges and charged Nigerians to variously contribute their positive
quota to have a Nation with an assured future.
Governor
Emmanuel’s speech stirred the audience to a new consciousness and earned
him a deafening ovation. Dignitaries including PMB who were in the
audience could not hide their satisfaction for the eloquent delivery
that defined that keynote address.
But Governor Emmanuel was not
only talking, he was also walking the talk back at home. His works
caught the search light of Leadership Newspaper which is said to be
meticulous, detailed, dispassionate and uncompromising in its
assessment.
And so his service in the State in the last 21 months has
been a subject of intense scrutiny and Leadership Newspaper has adjudged
him to have scaled its rigorous parameters and therefore qualified to
fly their flag as its Governor of the Year, 2016.
Coming from a body
across the Niger and likely a different political platform, the Award
must be viewed as deserving of significance.
It is indisputably an
honest assessment bereft of the prejudices of party affiliation and
ethnic coloration. It is an Award which parameters are altruistic in
content and integrity.
The constitutional responsibility of
governor to a State and its people is well known. The Leadership
Newspaper has used Governor Emmanuel’s diligent execution of that
constitutional mandate as the basis of conferring him with the honour of
Governor of the Year.
Interestingly, the mandate covers both the
tangibles and intangibles and the chief executive of the State does not
seem to be found wanting in any of them.
Be it in the intangible like
peace and tangible like infrastructure, Akwa Ibom is still up and
running even in the in the face of acute recession that has put the
federal government in reverse gear.
In 21 months, Governor
Emmanuel has shown proof that government can work and that no excuse can
substitute for its unworkability.
In the face of declining revenue, he
has constructed about 700 kilometers of road, built about 17 bridges,
executed over 400 rural development projects across the 31 Local
Government Areas of the State, ensured that supply of electricity for an
average of about 18 hours a day in some parts of the State, built
drainages and tackled ferociously the erosion menace that is threatening
some parts of the State. He has also faired fairly in the area of
education especially the sustenance of the Free and Compulsory Education
which he has complemented with the yearly payment of over N600 million
as WAEC fees to final year Secondary School Students of public schools
in the State.
Of course the free healthcare services to children from
age 0-5, pregnant women and the aged have also been sustained as public
policy.
His industrialization vision has continued to shine with
radiance in spite of the federal government fiscal policy which has
negatively impacted the establishment of industries.
The establishment
of industries has a lot to do with foreign direct investment even as it
also has much to do with the procurement of machineries which is foreign
exchange dependent.
The scare and bully tactics the central government
foisted at the very beginning encouraged capital flights that are still
yet to return. Government’s policy on foreign exchange has also not
encouraged investors.
Despite these obvious challenges, the Udom
administration has moved on with its determination to industrialize the
State and turn around the fortunes of its people. Suffice it to say that
it is scaling the hurdles. Currently, toothpick and pencil factory is
up and running.
A syringe factory which is a private concern but
facilitated by the State government is on the verge of starting
operations. The metering plant is to also join the league soon. Peacock
paint which had been moribund for more than a decade had since been
resuscitated.
In the area of agriculture, the Udom administration
has adopted a revolutionary approach. Since the discovery and
commercial exploitation of oil, agriculture which was the nation’s
economic mainstay has long been relegated.
Successive governments pledge
to diversify the economy through emphasis on agriculture has remained
mere rhetoric. But the Udom administration has dared to be different.
Indeed, it is in the area of agriculture that this government has made
the boldest imprint. Its policy and programmes on agriculture are
innovative, practical and sustainable and of course without losing sight
of the economics of scale.
From the improved oil palm and cocoa
seedlings, the cassava plantation (about 450 hectares in 15 LGAs), the
prime hatchery and the Grower Scheme, the vegetable revolution
facilitated by AKEES etc. Akwa Ibom State seems set to become the
Nation’s food basket in no distant future.
In his keynote address during
the last Award ceremony, Governor Emmanuel had stated that Nigerians
should be ready to replace the SUVs on the roads with tractors in the
farm. His policy on agriculture seems embedded with the orientation that
a country that cannot feed itself is doomed.
One of Governor
Emmanuel’s five-point agenda is poverty alleviation. It is apparent that
it may be difficult to leverage a people from poverty if one does build
their capacities. Capacity building has therefore been a cardinal
avowal of the Udom administration.
This has been noticeable in the
training of 450 youths in Cocoa processing, about 1000 in Oracle
Database Management, about 100 in mechanized agriculture in Israel. The
trainings which have been within and outside Nigeria, promise to be of
immense benefits to the beneficiaries who are all Akwa Ibom sons and
daughters.
In the area of sports, the governor has also made
commendable strides. Acknowledging sports as a major income earner,
Governor Udom Emmanuel has invested enormously in that area especially
in the provision of facilities. Currently, he has delivered a pilot
sports academy complex and has promised to replicate same in all the
federal constituencies in the State.
Perhaps his most magnificent
legacy would be the espousal of the Dakkada philosophy which is
designed to awaken in Akwa Ibom people their fate of greatness. Governor
Emmanuel would be remembered for this creed even long after he is gone.
Governor Emmanuel’s selection for the award of Leadership Newspaper
Governor of the Year, 2016 is well deserved. He has shown capacity,
vision, doggedness and wisdom to go with it.
His rich corporate
background may have leveraged him but his messianic sense of service and
passion to live in uprightness have combined to define him as a
candidate of honour anywhere, anytime.
No comments: