Banner Online News

By ETIM ETIM

The first of the 10 town hall meetings and empowerment programmes planned by the state government was held at Abak Federal Constituency Saturday, March8, 2025. But unlike the conventional town halls which typically take place at city halls and event centres, this one was held at Abak Township Stadium, and it felt more like a campaign rally. Nine more of such events are coming in the months ahead – one for each federal constituency.

The initial concept was to hold the event at Independence Hall, Abak, and that would have entailed a few participants being selected to attend. It was the governor, I understand, who opted for an open air setting to accommodate all and sundry. The programme has two broad objectives. First, it provides a platform for the government to interface directly with the rural folks and receive feedback from them on the projects they want in their communities and second, the government uses the opportunity to announce cash support to farmers and small businesses in the communities.

It amounts to a veritable financial backing for the rural economy which has great potentials to stimulate development in those areas and, as I said in my intervention of January 2 when I first reported on this, it also offers a bottom-up approach to the budgeting process. Feedbacks received from the communities would be incorporated into the 2026 budget. I was eager to attend the Abak event and have a good understanding of what it was all about. I arrived the stadium at about 2pm just as the governor’s convoy was pulling in and the programme took off in earnest. It lasted just two hours.

With the welcome formalities done with, the SSG, Enobong Uwah set the tone for the event. He said that the event was a fulfillment of the campaign promise Candidate Umo Eno made as he went round the state during the campaign season; and that it is essentially an opportunity for the governor to thank the people for electing him and show appreciation for their support since he became governor.

After the SSG, four persons – Prof Nkereuwem Etukudo (Abak); Emmanuel Enoidem (Etim Ekpo); Uwemedimo Nwoko (Ika) and Moses Ekpo (Abak) – gave goodwill speeches. Their remarks were unmistakably loaded with the politics of 2027. They noted that although the governor was relatively unknown when he was elected in 2023, his superlative performance as governor has earned him wide acclaim across the state, and that he would be reelected unopposed in 2027.

Other dignitaries like Itai Afe Annang, Okuku Awakama and the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Udeme Otong also spoke, applauding the governor for his good works and assuring him of the constituency’s support. There was more politics when the Speaker directed Mr. Mfon Idung, who represents Etim Ekpo-Ika State Constituency in the House of Assembly, to move a motion for the reelection of the governor in 2027. It was seconded by Aniekan Umanah, a former member of the House of Reps and the new Information Commissioner. The motion was put to a voice vote and of course, there’s no doubt about what the unanimous decision was.

It was now time for the leaders of federal constituency to present their NEEDS document to the governor. The document contains projects the three LGAs have carefully selected to be incorporated into next year’s budget. Every federal constituency is expected to meet and produce a similar report.

With the political component of the event now completed, it was time for the business of the day and promptly, Gov. Umo Eno took the microphone. Speaking in both Ibibio and English, laced with anecdotes and proverbs, Pastor Eno said the main purpose of the event was ‘’to present our scorecard to you, and at the same time listen to your concerns, areas where we may improve on our deliverables, and seek more support from you as we work to extend the frontiers of our development, in line with our Governance Blueprint-the Arise Agenda’’. He praised the leaders of the federal constituency for a well organized event and a coherent NEEDS document. For a man who did not grow up in Akwa Ibom, Umo Eno’s fluency in Ibibio and his ability to communicate effortlessly in it is notable. Since this is a community-based event, I urge other leaders to communicate in vernacular at subsequent town halls.

The governor announced a disbursement of between N500, 000 and N1.5 million to each of 180 farmers and 460 traders as well as N5 million to each of six MSME entrepreneurs. The beneficiaries are all domiciled in the three LGAs. The N5 million grant is to support paint production; couture; palm processing and renewal energy; while the smaller amounts are to support smaller businesses to acquire a wide range of items like sewing machines; welding machines; shoe making machines; ovens; vulcanizing tool boxes, farm equipments; etc. The full list of the beneficiaries and their phone numbers are published in the programme booklet and the government’s website. The governor noted that ‘’the beneficiaries have been carefully screened and processed under very transparent processes, and this was done across party lines’’, adding ‘’we came to serve Akwa Ibom people irrespective of party affiliations and I want to be remembered as the Governor who brought good governance to the rural areas”.

In addition, some persons will receive cars and 77 mini buses for their transport businesses. Of the 77 minibuses, Eno said 15 are specifically for women bus drivers. ‘’When I heard that there are 15 women bus drivers in the state, and the buses do not even belong to them, I decided to make special allowance for the women so that they can become bus owners and work for themselves’’, the governor said. Incidentally, the day was the International Women’s Day which is celebrated worldwide to commemorate women’s fight for equality; reproductive rights and fight against violence and abuse against women.

 

In all, the government will spend about N5 billion to empower 7,000 people drawn from various communities in the 31 LGAs. Although previous administrations have embarked on various empowerment programmes in the past, they recorded limited successes because the schemes were filled with fictitious names and the programmes were not transparently executed. But Gov. Eno says his own empowerment programme is different in that the beneficiaries were thoroughly selected and they are all domiciled in the communities; and with the help of biometric technology supervised by Dr. Frank Ekpenyong, Commissioner for Science & Digital Economy, duplication is not possible.

 

My take

 

1. Good governance is not rocket science. It only takes sincerity of purpose and honesty of the leaders.

2. The Umo Eno administration is focusing heavily on rural development and social welfare of the people. If N5 billion is invested every year on rural economy in the next few years, the impact would be great.

3. Stimulating rural economy is crucial for promoting economic growth, reducing poverty and improving living standards in rural areas.

3. With the phone numbers of the beneficiaries provided, I will take it upon myself to make random calls to some of the beneficiaries in the weeks ahead to track their performance.

4. In January, I spoke to my LGA Chairman on the need to establish a bipartisan committee to plan for our own town hall event. I look forward to receiving the governor in Uyo federal constituency.