•Governor Umo Eno
…Being an exclusive anniversary interview
The Editor of THE GOLDEN FOOTPRINTS, Anietie Usen, spoke with His Excellency, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, on his assessment of his first two years in office.
Excepts:
Your Excellency, Sir, the consensus of opinion is that, you have done very well in your first two years in office as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State. Some even say that you are outstanding. To use a biblical phrase: ‘What sayest thou of thyself’ in two years as governor?
I don’t think I’m in the best position to assess myself. It is the people that sent me here that are better placed to talk about my performance. I’m similar to somebody who is writing an examination. I cannot mark my script for myself, but I believe I read and prepared well for this examination. I’ve written some parts of the examination and I want to believe that the people that sent me here, the Akwa Ibom people, are impartial examiners. They are the ones to mark and score my performance. But from the exams I’ve written so far with my team, I believe we have passed the exams very well.
There are exams you write and you know without doubt that you have passed, and there are also people who know, even in the exams hall that, they have not done well. But I’d like to say that I return thanks to God for all of His help and His grace in writing this examination.
Paul the Apostle in Corinthians 15:10, says that, even though he’s the least of the Apostles, that he worked more than them all, yet not him, but by the grace of God, he has become what he has become.
So you consider yourself to be the least of the Governors of Akwa Ibom State?
I believe that of all the Governors of Akwa Ibom State, I am the least of them all, judging by their pedigrees. Paul said he was born out of time, that the rest saw Jesus face-to-face, and walked step-by-step with Him. Peter, in his second Epistle even boasted to everyone that he was not telling mere stories but was an ‘eyewitness’ of Jesus which he called ‘His Majesty’. But Paul said he had no bragging rights like other Apostles except to work hard.
And I believe that God has helped me to work hard. You see, I’ve lived in Akwa Ibom in the last 30 years and I understand the challenges of our people; I know our people, I’ve lived amongst the people and I have witnessed their struggles first-hand. So I have a clear understanding of the issues and we have tried to deal with those issues. We’ve tried to fulfil the yearnings of the people, particularly in the rural areas. We have tried to answer the question asked by rural Akwa Ibom about their plight…
As my boss, former Governor Udom Emmanuel, would say, the best answer to political insults is developmental results. So we tried to answer with results, verifiable results in all the spectrum of the ARISE Agenda. I believe by the grace of God we are not over yet. This is just two years, but I think we have answered and we have plans to continue to meet the yearnings of our people in all aspects that we have set out in thematic areas of the ARISE Agenda.
So we give God the praise. We thank the Akwa Ibom people for giving us a chance and I thank personally Deacon Udom Emmanuel for listening to God and spotting me out. I know it must have been very difficult for him, and of course we saw the odds that arose, but I thank God that everyone played a role and I thank all the people that believed in this project called, Project Umo Eno 2023 that has brought us to this point. I am praying that God will not let me disappoint God, disappoint the people of Akwa Ibom, disappoint Deacon Udom Emmanuel and all those that believed and supported me in this journey.
So apart from God, what else would you attribute your success to?
Apart from God, it’s God. There’s no other reason. We remove God, and we have nothing. Inspiration comes from God, strength comes from God, grace comes from God. What is it that you will do that doesn’t come from God? So apart from God, it’s God.
Beyond two years in office, what should Akwa Ibom look forward to in the years ahead?
We’re looking forward to an Akwa Ibom that will be able to run an economy that is diversified. That is the truth. Until we’re able to get to that point, our GDP will not rise very dramatically. That’s why you see us doing a lot to support MSMEs to help our middle class and then to raise our GDP. You’ve seen that we’ve done a lot and we’re still doing a lot and Akwa Ibom State has the potential to become the tourist destination of Nigeria given all that we have here and we are serious about it. So what we are doing right now and in the next two years is to see how we can develop our tourism assets and we are doing the best we can.
We’re working on the Conference Center; we’re working on the Ibom International Hotel by the conference center; we’re working on the Shopping City, so we can have a whole tourism ecosystem around that area. We’re working on the ARISE Park; we’re working on the Ibom International HOSPITAL in order to jump-start medical tourism. We are using one of the best companies in the world for that to be able to give us a turnkey project in that area.
We are also developing our infrastructures; we are investing in agricultural tourism… we are setting up an agricultural leasing equipment company; we have already placed order for equipments; we are starting Ibom City Transportation Service and we’ve just signed that contract and so we believe that in the next eight months we should be able to have CNG buses and their refueling stations.
We are developing our airport, we are finishing the International Airport, we are doing the runway, we are doing the taxiway, we are doing the apron and we are doing the MRO as well as the aviation village.
In addition, we are building a medical village and we are building the judicial quarters…We are taking advantage of the peaceful and serene nature of the State to do everything we can to make Akwa Ibom State advance the fortunes of the State and keep it peaceful, beautiful and welcoming to tourists…
If you have that atmosphere, you have Ibom Air… we need to take advantage of your airline to bring in people and take out people with ease and boost tourism. We have lots of tourist traps, like the Mary Slessor sites, the Slave Trade harbour and the Bridge of No Return, the Lord Lugard Residence and office, where the Amalgamation of Nigeria documents were signed, and all of that. We need to develop all of these tourism sites l.
We have the only stadium in the country is FIFA standard and welcomes a large number of people from all over the world for sports tourism. NDDC has just finished the Niger Delta Sports Festival in Akwa Ibom State and between now and December we’ll have our first Akwa Ibom Sports Festival. That is an order I’ve given to the Commissioner for Sports so that we can keep those sports facilities alive. We’re building a new Sports Academy in Eket.
All of these dovetails into tourism and we have the capacity to manage it. So these are the things we’re looking at in the future for our people. Our State should be able to have an increased IGR, not by really taxing the people but from the things that we take for granted…
Obviously Sir, you are making giant strides that sometimes scare and daze those who doubted your capacity at the beginning… Is there anything in your background that prepared you for this high level of performance?
Let me say this very clearly. It is a privilege to be a Christian because the Bible comes very handy in nearly everything you do as a leader. Paul the Apostle said something that strikes me and makes a lot of impact on the way I steer the ship of State. He said there are things that would have been profitable to him but he had counted them but lost for the sake of Christ.
For the sake of the peace of this state, there are many things that I would have taken as a right but I let them go. Sometimes you become foolish, sometimes you do things people will say why will he do those things but you want to make sure the state remains peaceful.
And Paul again said to the Jews, I’ve become a Jew, to the Gentiles I’ve become a Gentile, that I might win some. So you must apply this. Christianity is very practical, so you must take advantage of all of those sacrifices to keep the State peaceful continuously. Security agencies are doing their best, we’re working with them. Crime rate is low in the State and I must thank God and thank the security agencies for their cooperation…I believe that, by the grace of God, Akwa Ibom State will continue to do well, make our infrastructures top-notch and stand out in Nigeria and beyond.
*Culled from THE GOLDEN FOOTPRINTS billed for presentation today, May 29, 2025.
