By Henry Onyema

BEFORE penultimate  week’s presidential  election, pundits had speculated that Akwa Ibom State would be a fierce battle ground for the two frontline political parties, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Udom Emmanuel

This expectation was largely because, former Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, had created the impression after he decamped to the ruling party, that Akwa Ibom people were under his magical spell.

Clearly, the emphatic defeat suffered by President Buhari in Akwa Ibom State showed that Akpabio’s over-bloated self-worth was a mirage. Akpabio did not only lose his imaginary grip on the millions of votes he promised the president, he was also rejected by his kinsmen who trooped out en-masse to truncate his bid to return to the Senate.

By the results of the presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom, the world has seen that Akpabio’s political relevance in the state is dead and buried.

Beyond this obvious fact, the election also shows that the people of Akwa Ibom State are experiencing something that money cannot buy -good governance.  The thousands of votes recorded by the PDP’s Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the state was a vote for good governance which Governor Udom Emmanuel represents. Akwa Ibom people have seen the light exemplified by Governor Udom’s transformational leadership and have taken a stance with their votes never to return to the dark days of slavery.

In a space of four years, Governor Udom has done what many thought was practically impossible. The previous administration before him was praised for converting the state into a massive construction site with the building of roads and several other infrastructures. But Governor Udom’s administration has proved that governance is not just about building infrastructures but also about building up the people to enable them achieve their potentials.

When Udom took office in 2015, one of his cardinal goals was to awaken the consciousness of his people. This led to the launch of the Dakkada ‘arise’ philosophy aimed at awakening the people to shed off the retrogressive attitude of laziness, inertia, inferiority complex, ethnicity, hatred and arise to the faith of greatness.

Four years on, the messages contained in the Dakkada vision  have been engraved in the consciousness of the people, including the young generation, who have internalised the philosophy, and apply same in their day-to-day activities. The success recorded with the philosophy is clearly evident as indigenes now strive to engage in all manner of productive ventures.

Farmers in the villages now apply themselves more dedicatedly to producing food. Market men and women take their business more seriously.   Artisans and craftsmen and women now seek better and efficient ways to ply their trades. Pupils/students now study harder and civil servants go to work early and try to justify their pay.

Governor Udom did not stop at this: he embarked on an unprecedented aggressive industrialisation drive which has now placed Akwa Ibom on the global map as one of the best destinations for local and foreign investors. While most states in the country grappled with the challenges of the last recession that gripped the nation, Udom’s leadership foresight gave birth to numerous world class industries in the state. Amongst them is the largest syringe manufacturing factory in Africa located at Onne; Pencil Production Factory; Toothpick Production Factory; Electric Digital Metering Solutions Manufacturing Factory;  Resuscitation of Peacock Paint Factory;  Fertilizer Blending Factory;  Plastic Manufacturing Factory;  Rice Mill;  Palm Kernel Crushing Plant, Ibesikpo Asutan;  Petroleum Tank Farm; Starch Manufacturing Plant; Palm Kernel Crushing Plant, Ukanafun and Palm Oil Processing plant. Through these industries, Akwa Ibom State hitherto  referred to as ‘civil servant state’ is now a beehive of production activities.

In the educational sector, the governor is aggressively pursuing his policy of free and compulsory basic education in all public schools.

Over 15 community schools have been taken over by the government in effort to standardise education in the state. Sixty two schools have also been renovated by the governor with over N600 million WAEC fees payment for indigenes in public secondary schools annually.

In the area of manpower development and workers welfare, Akwa Ibom State is one of the few states that have paid all outstanding pensions and gratuities to retired workers. Aside all these, the governor has also recorded remarkable success in the recruitment and training of the state workforce.

In the area of youth development and capacity building, the N2bn interest-free loan for small scale entrepreneurs and tradershas proven to be a major lifeline for youths in the state.

As is traditional in Nigeria when electionering campaign begins,  most serving political actors seeking re-election often momentarily abandon the business of governance.  But Governor Udom has shown that this should not be the norm with the launch of Akwa Ibom airline days to the election.  By this landmark, the state is not only running a state-owned airport, it is also running an airline. So far, it is the first and only state currently doing that in Nigeria.

https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2019/02/a-ibom-pdp-demands-release-of-detained-members/

• Onyema is a media professional based in Lagos