•Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State
He is businesslike and detailed in the way he governs Akwa Ibom State. Governor Umo Eno, a pastor and church founder, runs the oil-rich, Atlantic shores state, the way he successfully ran his thriving businesses, with prudence and frugality.
•Deputy Governor Akon Eyakenyi
He tracks all income and expenditures carefully, not just to identify areas of potential savings and investments but to block leakages for the good of all.
Close watchers of the Administration are not altogether surprised. The Governor himself had promised so, right from the onset of his Administration during the swearing-in of his Secretary to the State Government on May 30, 2023.
“I intend to run this business of government with a private sector mindset…and usher Akwa Ibom fully into the golden era”.
There is no iota of doubt whatsoever that he is playing his own script with the zeal of a missionary. Neither is there any question about who is in charge of the missionary journey. Pastor Umo Eno is fully in charge. He doesn’t want to hear that somebody somewhere else tells the story of Akwa Ibom better than the Akwa Ibom government and people.
During the governorship campaign in 2023, he disagreed publicly about the state’s unemployment figures and poverty index, bandied around by external statistical agencies. He promised that when he wins the elections, he would get to the bottom of accurate statistics about the state, not just for public consumption but to help his government plan and reap what he called “low hanging fruits” for the state. And this man is a promise keeper. Has he promised it? He will bring it to pass!
On Friday, August 25, 2023, when he was barely three months in office, the governor dispatched an executive bill to the State House of Assembly for the establishment of Akwa Ibom Bureau of Statistics. By December 2023, the bill had become a law and was accordingly presented to the State Executive Council on December 13. 2023, by the governor through his Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General, Uko Udom, SAN.
“The importance and viability of timely and reliable statistics on the socio-economic life of our state cannot be over-emphasised, as accurate figures and statistics are crucial for sustaining the development of our state. We therefore require reliable statistical records to prepare the state for the future, manage effective delivery of services, improve transparency, accountability, good governance and ensure the success of ARISE Agenda…”, the governor had said.
During the week, precisely on October 21, 2024, the governor, a meticulous planner, marched his words and plans with action and went a step further to launch the state online portal for unemployed youths, known as ARISE YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PORTAL. The novel idea is to acquire a comprehensive database of unemployed youths and connect them with job creators in the state and beyond. This is not just for the benefit of the government and the unemployed, but also for the private sector operators in Akwa Ibom State and beyond.
Dr. Frank Ekpenyong, an ICT expert and Senior Special Assistant, SSA, to the Governor on ICT, spoke in detail about the benefits of the portal and demonstrated to a crowded audience of youths and government officials how the portal works.
“The first thing to note about this portal is that the governor wants Akwa Ibom youths to be gainfully employed in the country and globally …So this is the tool that brings employment information and opportunities globally to the doorsteps of the unemployed Akwa Ibom youths”, Dr. Ekpenyong said.
Secondly, the portal serves more than the unemployed community. It extends its job hunting capabilities to the underemployed, who lack job satisfaction in their existing jobs and are constantly searching for greener pastures. This community of underemployed is growing as jobless University graduates are bending over backwards in recent times to pick menial jobs just to keep body and soul together.
The portal also offers funding and training support to its subscribers and account holders. The first group to benefit in this category is the 5,000 Akwa Ibom youths who are to be paid N50,000 per month for not participating in the recent nationwide protest. That is something the site is already handling from Day One. So also are the state bursary for students in tertiary institutions as well as the special grants to the handicapped and rural MSMEs.
These services make the portal a compelling online destination across the board. Already, the surge in traffic has been huge. Twenty-four hours after the governor launched the portal, more than 10,000 youths, according to Dr. Ekpenyong, had visited the portal for registration. The requirements for registration include a valid certificate of origin, a valid National Identification Number (NIN), a Voters Identification Number, Bank details, email address, a phone number and relevant educational certificates, among others.
Engr. Uwem Okoko, the Managing Director of Hensek Integrated Services, a leading construction firm in the state spoke at the occasion on behalf of the private sector and commended Governor Eno for the initiative.
“For us in the business sector and especially in the construction industry, this platform is coming at the right time. As we are entering the construction season where we will need a lot of workers, we will not need to do a lot of advertising as usual. Companies like HENSEK, AMITEC, WISCHINO, BULLETIN, VERINI and other construction companies hope to employ more than 15,000 Akwa Ibomites. All we will do is to go to this portal”, Okoko said.
From the onset of his Administration, Governor Umo Eno has not hidden his soft spot for e-governance, the use of digital technologies and the Internet to deliver government services, facilitate communication between government and citizens, and improve the overall efficiency of public administration. Whether it is in the making of the State Social Register or redesigning the State official Website or in compelling all MDAs to hook up to the website or in the disbursement of funds or distribution of free food to the 31 LGAs, e-governance is fast gaining grounds under the Umo Eno Administration.
Truth is that e-governance encourages efficiency, citizen engagement and above all transparency and accountability. For Governor Eno, transparency is something he is unwavering and unwilling to shift grounds.
Said Dr. Ekpenyong, the pointman for e-governance in Akwa Ibom State: “If you know our governor very well, it’s got to be transparent, it’s got to be fair and it’s got to be inclusive before he can endorse it; and that’s what this platform is all about”.
The governor himself spoke in the same vein. “This portal is designed to be a one-stop site, where everything relating to employment will be handled transparently. From job opportunities in the civil service to the private sector, and from the computer aptitude test to other application tests even for prospective civil servants, everything will be done here”, he said.
To ensure a transparent management of the portal, the governor announced the setting up of the State Inter-Labour Committee to monitor employment opportunities and ensure transparency and fairness in the process of employment. The Inter-Labour Committee, according to the governor, will also ensure that all companies operating in Akwa Ibom State show transparency in their employment of Akwa Ibom indigenes.
“No more will we bring people from outside where we have skills to do business in Akwa Ibom…And let no one test our resolve. If we find out that you’re operating here and you are not recruiting from here, we will do everything to shut you down…The time to ensure that we get our people employed is now”, the governor said.
