By Edet Okpo
Except one habitually takes delights in sounding funny or feigning blindness even when he clearly could see as it is characteristic of cynics and hired critics, six years into the distinguished and impactful administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel, Akwa Ibom people have superfluous reasons to identify the more with the Governor and celebrate with him for how far he has brought the State and the resultant impact good governance has had on the people.
The evidence is confoundingly overwhelming and increasingly manifesting more potentials. It is such that, across all critical areas of assessment of what globally makes a functional leadership, Governor Udom Emmanuel deserves all the accolades and encomiums that have been poured upon him by evaluators of leadership, home and abroad.
The sweet problem that comes with these accomplishments is the difficulty one is bound to have in any attempt to list or enumerate, item by item, sector by sector, location by location, all that the governor has done. The simplest and frankest summary therefore is that the six years journey of Governor Udom Emmanuel is an indisputable success story that leaves the people without regret for their choice and solidarity in him.
It could be recalled that those at home and those who came from afar to attend Mr. Udom Emmanuel’s proclamation of interest, then Secretary to the State Government, to run for the governor of the State in 2015 were unanimous in their remarks that he presented the most strategic, detailed and realistic manifesto that captured the masses’ needs, instantly appealed to the people, and won their hearts long ahead of the election that eventually produced him.
As promised, Governor Udom Emmanuel launched out with his innovatively systematic 8-Point Agenda of Industrialization, Aviation Development, Rural and Riverine Area Development, Agriculture, Human Capacity Development, Security, Infrastructure and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. There was obvious link between this agenda and governor’s professional background that existentially thrives on pragmatism, effective management of human resources, result consciousness and goal-realization.
In spite of the national recession and associated challenges that marked his first term, the Governor refused to indulge in excuses, something his contemporaries in other States were feasting on to deceive the masses and justify their incompetence. Of note was the fact, Governor Udom refused to borrow from the Federal Government’s relief funds; yet effectively managed what he had to get what he wanted.
By the end of the First Term, evidence on ground became the governor’s spokesperson which, to significant extent, relieved him of the rigours and fanfares of talking a dozen during campaign outings. About this time, thousands from opposition camps had been magnated by the irresistible force of good and realism, so that they decamped enmasse to join the winning team. The second term election of 2019 therefore was a pro forma, to honour democratic traditions.
But the Governor needed to add something fresh to temporise unfolding realities. His second term sprang up with a more challenging and appealing mantra: Completion Agenda.
This was a re-engineered synopsis of his intentions as he would be winding down to the anti-climax. His second was firmly founded on achievements of the first term. It implied that concentrated focus had to be to whatever was left undone or halfway as result of time and associated factors of the first term.
Six years from 2015 and two into the second term, the land is as inundated with projects as it is with testimonies, especially on account of Industrialization, Aviation Development, Infrastructure, Agricultural expansionism for massive effect. Because the task of selecting what to celebrate is hard, we just may have to give quick kudos to the governor in the areas of industrialization, Aviation Development, and Agriculture.
Today, Ibom Air rules the airways. Governor Emmanuel did not only damn critics and their incredulity at inception of the idea, but went ahead to prove that, like the late Jamaican reggae maestro, Bob Marley, once put it, where there is a will, there is always a way. In spite of the the sarcasm, outright insult and faulty statistics fabricated by critics to the weakening of faith in possibility, the governor stood his ground and launched the Ibom Air. There have been silenced to their shame by the governors audacity and enterprising reach.
Close to two decades after it was envisioned by Arc. Obong Victor Attah, another great visionary of competitive credential, it is now a fact of history that it is the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel that the Federal Government in its cunning has finally found convincing and irrevocable reasons to give full approval for work to begin in earnest the Ibom Deep Seaport. The Seaport, designed to comprise an Industrial City, is a goldmine for employment, wealth creation, infrastructural development and community expansion.
Experts say by the time the Governor shall have given additional attention to the Tropicana, towards full realization of its original plan, the recently commissioned Shopping Mall, as big and sophisticatedly beautiful as it is, shall become like a kiosk at the Eket International Market. As promised by the governor under the Completion Agenda, the Tropicana Complex, when developed to the fullest concept, shall become another bold signature of Governor Emmanuel’s clairvoyance.
As observed earlier, the task of itemising the accomplishments of this administration can never easy for space. But it necessary to quickly point to the fact that, the present administration has done more roads than any other one since State creation, with all local government areas having not less two or three, to me modest.
Industries –mega and cottage –have sprang up at strategic locations. Education has been given added value. Agriculture has taken new dimension. So is culture, sports, and empowerment of the masses for full involvement in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. The State is rapidly becoming an industrial hub.
None of the above would have had or shall have any lasting meaning one thing – security. Interestingly, this is one area the State has excelled, in spite of bad times that is a spill-over from other places. Nevertheless, Akwa Ibom State today can proudly boast of being one of the safest States that residents are not carrying their hearts in their palms; nor are investors afraid to come.
Having never been known as a noisemaker or someone in the trendy habit of flaunting one’s worth, Governor Udom’s emergence as the 4th civilian governor of Akwa Ibom State in 2015 may have been doubted but foreordained by the heavens at a critical time God knew that Akwa Ibom State needed a leader of his pedigree.
Stepping in as a renowned “professional in politics”, his favourite service signature, someone with known second addresses, Mr. Udom Emmanuel knew or foresaw that both men and history shall judge him by what he would do for Akwa Ibom State with the popular mandate he was given.
Being a professional in politics loosely means that Governor Udom Emmanuel did not come into governance to amass wealth for himself and fly out afterwards, like some have made their custom. He came to serve a people to whom he had pledged and has the cognate capacity to link up to new frontiers of better existence through creation of opportunities for shared wealth.
Indeed, the content, scope and destination of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Completion does not have a hazy skyline. One curious and instructive thing however is the fact that the Governor has habitually refused to boast.
This brings to mind his popular line. “I don’t have time to make long speeches. I’ll keep silencing my critics with projects and action”. A pragmatic leader like this deserves our support and solidarity in all ramifications.
**Edet Okpo, a Journalist and Public Affairs Analyst writes from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State*
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