Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State speaks with Ray Ekpu, Chief Executive Officer of MayFive Media Limited, and Demola Abimboye, contributing editor of Newswatch Plus magazine, on his activities and achievements since he assumed office on May 29, 2023. Excerpts:
NewswatchPlus: Let’s congratulate you for your one-year service to Akwa Ibom State. We’ve seen you going round to commission a number of projects. The question is: what have you seen that makes you confident that you made the right choice to be governor of this state?
Governor: Thank you. First of all, it is a privilege for me to have you to talk to us. You are one of Nigeria’s finest. I count myself privileged to have you today. I don’t take it for granted. I thank God for the strength he has given you.
The question, honestly, should have been directed to my predecessor, Deacon Udom Emmanuel. In all honesty, he was the one who told me he wanted me to run for the office of the governor. I don’t know what he saw in me that others did not see. If I was asked to name people for the office, I wouldn’t put my name forward. That has never been my intention; it was not a career path for me. I was content doing what I was doing. I won’t say I saw something that made me come. It was Udom Emmanuel that saw something and invited me. When that kind of trust is placed in you, one then begins to look at why.
In answering the question, what we did was to set up a committee to come up with a blueprint, because I have been in management for a better part of my adult life and understand that when you are given a task, you look at what it entails and how to solve the problems. Governance is about solving problems, meeting the welfare and security needs of the people. We had to come together and set up the Blueprint Team. We worked with some World Bank people and they helped us to do what we called the NEEDS Assessment of the State generally – where we were and where we think we should be. We did that in all the Local Government Areas. In each LG we went, we talked about their needs and that if they gave us an opportunity, we will meet those needs. We asked my colleagues in the Cabinet then to help do their assessment which they did. They came handy for us.
From all of these, we came up with the blueprint which we called ARISE AGENDA, bordering on Agricultural Revolution, Rural Development, Infrastructural Maintenance, Security Management and Education. That’s the blueprint we are running.
Everything we’ve done since God gave us the privilege and the people of Akwa Ibom State elected us has been to stay within the blueprint. Every time we finish, we go back and look at it and ask ‘are we still in line?
Right now, we are bringing back the Blueprint Team to see what we’ve done in the last one year and see the gaps. They will expand the team to include some other people we know can really help us.
NewswatchPlus: In your one year, have you had any surprises, things you didn’t expect to find in governance of the state that you’ve found?
Governor: Yes, I have had surprises in terms of the behavioral pattern of our people. Politics has exposed the real human side of people. Before you interact with people, you see and feel good about them. You think with people’s qualifications and capacity, they should be able to do things but when you interact, you are surprised you are not able to get that.
In terms of general governance, nothing really because the man I took over from, to be honest, prepared all of us. I was in the Executive Council (EXCO) of the last administration. Most of our meetings used to be mentoring classes. He prepared us, I knew the challenges even though now you find you might not have known the depth sometimes. He took a decision and you couldn’t understand all the things that led to that decision, like someone watching a football match from his home and feeling that the footballer should have scored a goal. Governance is like that. You now see deeper and know the challenges that came into decision making, the various interest groups that you take into consideration. It is not just as easy as ‘this is a strict decision, why not take it?’
These are some of the surprises I have encountered. But to God be the glory that in the last one year, we’ve been grappling with them. The surprises have been about the people, situation and ability to take some decisions because of several interests you have to consider.
NewswatchPlus: Some of your predecessors have had to deal with the perception that Akwa Ibom people are laid back, lackadaisical and are people who attribute everything happening in their lives to witchcraft. That perception has hindered development. How are you dealing with that?
Governor: The truth, for me, is that some of our people are literally intimidated. Some look for those reasons to cover up our inadequacies. I think previous administrations have really tried to direct our people. I still believe we should keep giving our people the needed orientation, exposure and mentoring. All that we should do now is to celebrate our people. Ray Ekpu is an icon in every sense of the word but do we celebrate him? Can our people learn any lesson from him? Do we have a book, a biography on our icon that our young ones can read about a fearless journalist who faced many governments, broke the glass ceiling many years ago? If others do it, we can do it. We keep saying there must be conscious efforts in celebrating the talents, people that God has given us to encourage others to say there have been people who have come before us. Sometimes, it becomes a case like Prophet Elijah who said to God: ‘Kill me now, I am the only one left. I can’t go on with this anymore.’ But God told him ‘no; 7,000 prophets are there who had not bowed to Baal.’ That encouraged him to go on the journey.
Sometimes, when our people don’t see those that have gone ahead of them, they could be weary, tired. What we are doing differently is to celebrate people, across party lines, for who they are, for their achievements. I hope you are not pushing me to let out part of our plans for the celebration of the anniversary of the state creation. We want to have ‘A Night of Stars,’ who they are and celebrate them and encourage our young people.
NewswatchPlus: Your first term is a journey of 48 months and this period you’ve premised on five pillars tagged ARISE. Could you please tell us what this means and what you have done under each of these pillars?
Governor: The A stands for Agricultural Revolution, R for Rural Development, I for Infrastructure Maintenance, S for Security and E for Education.
In the last one year, although too short, we have taken steps because a child should be able to walk in one year. We have opened up our agricultural programmes by resuscitating Akwa Ibom Extension Services, ACADEM. It was hitherto moribund but we have reopened it so that workers can go back to the local governments and villages and continue to do their extension services. We have brought farmers together and set up many cooperatives, given them improved seedlings and encouraged our people to go back to the farms. We are partnering with agencies like the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA. We can now say that our people are ready to do farming. To encourage that, we declared every first and third Friday of the month as Farms Day in the state so that even those of us in the Public and Civil Service can own farms and continuously provide food in the state. We recently went into partnership with the Shongai Farms in Porto Novo; we’ve opened a 50-hectare farm that is also a tourist destination.
We have opened up the DAKKADA Oil Palm. Akwa Ibom State has a lot of advantages in palm production. We had Akwa Ibom Palm Produce Company that was moribund for 22 years. We have resuscitated it and it is functional now. In the next few months, we are distributing Tenera seeds which fruits in 24 months to our farmers. We are so blessed by God in this part that we have greenery throughout the year. There is no time we can’t plant. We believe we will have a bumper harvest this year.
We are also looking at the food value chain with the harvest we have. We have set up warehouses for the government to off-take from these farmers because one of the things that discourages farmers is the market. It now becomes the buyers’ market. Most of the products before they get bad, people just price anyhow. What the government has done this year is that for every three basic products – cassava and other perishable items – the government buys off and pays the farmers to produce fufu, garri. These are the things we have focused on now.
NewswatchPlus: In terms of mechanized farming, how far have you gone?
Governor: We have set up an equipment leasing company to be able to procure tractors. Some of these farmers don’t have the equipment, so the state has to lease and support them. As part of our strategy for this year, we will have all of our tractors in the ACADEM compound so that we can support our farmers to plough their farms before the end of the year.
NewswatchPlus: Rural development has been a programme started many years ago by former Military President Ibrahim Babangida. What exactly are you doing differently now to make things better?
Governor: I am a rural person and I know that our rural people have lots of challenges. Even in farming, they have challenges in terms of mechanization. Now, we are giving them schools. Akwa Ibom has free and compulsory education but when you look at it, do the schools inspire the young children to want to go to schools where they don’t have chairs and teachers lack equipment to work with? What we’ve done is to come up with Model Primary Schools. I commissioned the prototype on May 17, 2024. That will be done in all the 31 LGs of the state. We are targeting that before the end of our first four years.
I was very happy when we commissioned the prototype of the school. You could see a Computer Lab so that a child in primary school can have access to computer education. There is a solar panel powering the school so the issue of power supply won’t be there. We will give the children uniforms and shoes because a child must look forward to going to school. Those are parts of the freebies we are providing to develop the rural areas; we are making them feel a sense of belonging because many times, most governments stop with the elites. But what our government has done is to intentionally go to local governments and provide for them.
Also, we are putting up Primary Health Centres that will help our rural people. We are running free medical services – health insurance schemes, ambulance services so that if a woman wants to deliver at night, she doesn’t have to patronize the traditional birth attendants because there is an ambulance to convey her to the health centre. Until you provide these things, you don’t go and fight the traditional birth attendants. But when you provide sustainable alternatives, you have cut down the old practices naturally.
We are trying to improve the livelihood of the people with light and water. Where we cannot get electricity power from the national grid, we will explore other sources like solar.
For me, the joy is that we are doing all these across the state. There is no LGA today that we are not present as a government either building schools, hospitals or compassionate homes. I plan to build about 400 of such homes across the 368 wards in the state. We should be able to put one in each ward. There are some where we will put two homes. We are pursuing that aggressively for the people in the rural areas.
We are opening up farm roads. It is an intentional strategic plan in our Blueprint and steadily, we are touching on them. That shows you we had a plan coming into government from the moment it was clear we were in the race. We took some time to prepare the Blueprint and we are running it.
NewswatchPlus: Some projects in one pillar dovetail into the others. What will you then say about the Infrastructure Development pillar?
Governor: In Infrastructure Development, we continued with what our predecessors have done. For example, my predecessor had opened up the state substantially in the area of roads. There is no part of the state you can’t reach from Uyo, the capital, within a maximum of one and a half hours. What we are doing is to continue and complete what that government couldn’t. You know there is no way a government can finish all the projects. So, most of the projects we are commissioning in our first year are those the previous government started and we completed just as we initiated and are doing ours. We have awarded contracts for over 70 different roads and funding them. We are continuously opening up the state.
We are providing other key infrastructure that will enhance the quality of living in the state. Our key word is Infrastructural Round Maintenance. We are spending time to maintain all that we met on the ground. That’s why we set up an Asset Maintenance and Management Company. Its job is to maintain all government infrastructure and keep them in the best way possible. If we can maintain what we have, Akwa Ibom will remain one of the best states in the country with access to infrastructure. What we can just do is to add to what we have. I am thinking of a complete overhauling of the Fire Service because as we continue to grow infrastructure in the state, we need a functional fire service department.
We are planning to open up housing. We have done a road to and will soon commission a housing project in Uyo for Civil Servants from grade level 01 to 08. My programme in the first four years is to look at the less privileged, encourage and support them, let them feel the impact of government as we go on. This second year, you will see us going into investment but we must not forget the less privileged.
NewswatchPlus: There are important missing gaps in the ARISE Agenda such as women, youth empowerment, health, sports, tourism, etc. How will these gaps be bridged?
Governor: ARISE is the five pillar programme but it has 17 thematic goals. Health, tourism, women and youth empowerment, sports, etc. are there. Akwa Ibom was voted the best tourism state in 2023, seven months after we came in. We looked at the usual Christmas Village, set up a committee and turned it around. We are working on Ibom Air to remain the best airline in the country. We are developing water transportation and just ordered for a ferry with the Nigerian Navy to resume the Oron – Calabar route by water. The gully erosion menace in the state has been addressed. All of these are put in thematic goals and connect the dots as we said in our campaign.
NewswatchPlus: Nigerian politics is a do or die affair but you are doing it differently. You liaise with the opposition, which is not the norm in Nigeria. That’s impressive. How are you balancing these things?
Governor: For me, it can only be God, not of my own making. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. First, you need to let people develop that trust in you. It is an uphill task. For us as a state, we are all Akwa Ibomites and this state is greater than any one person or party. If politics is to bring development to the people, knowledge is not vested in one person, you must collaborate, go across the divide. Solomon succeeded David, his father. He was the one to build the temple but didn’t have timber. The Bible says he reached across to the other neighbour and told them there was no need to fight. He asked for timber and that their men should pick something in return from his kingdom. That was how the temple in Jerusalem was built
If you understand that others have what you lack, you must collaborate with them and show sincerity. Once they see that’s what you want, they will reciprocate. If the intention is to serve the people, I believe the approach matters. I believe God has placed me in this position for these people. Rather than keep fighting ourselves and burning the resources and the people suffering, I will come and appeal to you to let us serve our people. I will not play politics of bringing people down, casting aspersions on them. It all depends on who you are. My calling and livelihood abhor that. After all of it, you have a maximum of eight years, that is if God gives you the privilege. After eight years, you go back. What do you go back to? I’m a Pastor and want to go back as a Pastor. Members of the opposition are in my church, so what do I do? Don’t talk to them? No. That’s not the approach for me.
NewswatchPlus: You have told us you are particular about the less privileged in the state. Can you tell us a bit about yourself to see if maybe it influenced this bent?
Governor: I grew up as a son of a policeman; my father joined the Nigeria Police Force as a Constable and rose to the Officer cadre. I was deep down there. There were days we didn’t have food. I understand what it is not to have food, shoes, basic things to go to school. Growing up in the Police Barrack, Ikeja, Lagos, made you live with all manner of people. Even if your parents had issues with neighbours, the next minute we the children will still play together. In the barracks, I used to sell soft drinks for my mother because my father’s salary couldn’t carry all of us. Our first TV set was bought by my mother from the proceeds of her trade. When people see me stop on the road and give people money or hug them, some people say it’s politics; that I will soon stop it. But it’s not true. I know if I don’t support them directly, even if you send money through any structure, it may not get to them.
I couldn’t go to the university immediately after secondary school. I had five siblings. I had to take care of them and my mother. My father died early in life; I got married early. I had to take care of my wife’s family. We all lived in a 3-bedroom flat in Lagos. Each month, I had to put my salary on the table and share. My wife had to go into tailoring; she would sew and take her car to go and sell them at Aswani Market, Isolo, Lagos, just to make ends meet. I understand perfectly what we are talking about. When you see someone from that background, there is no way you won’t have a clear understanding of poverty. The person does not need to tell you he or she needs food.
NewswatchPlus: A lot of people are impressed by this excellent show of compassion for the less privileged – orphans, widows, the left behind – in the last one year. Is it your philosophy of governance, background or pastoral leaning that are responsible for that?
Governor: You don’t have to be a pastor. Sitting here today, I now realise that God put me through that mess so I can have a message for the people. Maybe I didn’t prepare for governance; maybe I didn’t have a school to go to be trained for governance; maybe I didn’t go to Harvard to put it in my mind to be a governor but looking back today, I know that everything I went through in life, God Himself by an unseen hand, had prepared me to be a governor. Compassion is not because I am a governor. There are many Pastors who even oppress their church members. Compassion for me has to do with what you’ve been through and I’m saying I won’t let anyone or people go through it.
Moses chose to leave the pleasure of Pharaoh’s house and went to suffer affliction with his people because he knew that he was of the stock and even when Pharaoh adopted him as his first son, he could have remained there. He was actually programmed to succeed Pharaoh but the Bible said when he was of age, he just left.
I think the things you go through in life determine what you do. When you’ve slept hungry and you know that these people could be hungry, you don’t wait for them to tell you ‘give us food.’ The way God put me through life leaves that mark in me. Sometimes, I do things that go against protocol and the notion that a governor must not shake people’s hands, he must not hug people. Just hugging some people is all they need; they don’t need anything from you. It means so much to them to hug a governor. There are people you shake hands with and they wonder that they could shake a governor’s hand at their level. There are a lot of ways you can give people inspiration. That’s just the way I am wired.
NewswatchPlus: In the last few years, you went through over 40 legal cases. You don’t seem to be bitter about this kind of harassment. Why?
Governor: When the children of Israel left Egypt, they did a 40-year journey. God put them through all of that to test them. If my boss had told me these were some of the things I would go through, maybe I would have told him I didn’t want to be governor. I remember a particular day after all those pressures that my family had held a meeting. My last daughter approached me and said ‘Daddy, why are you doing all these to us? Everywhere, our friends are telling us your father didn’t go to school, has no certificates. Leave this thing.’
I seldom called my boss. I believe there must be that gap so that when you say you want to see him, he gives you attention. I called him and he asked me to see him. I told him how my family felt about the attack on me.
NewswatchPlus: Would you kindly describe what Akwa Ibom will look like at the end of your four years of governance?
Governor: The best takeaway for me in four years should be that we should live in peace among ourselves. If I can achieve that, I would have achieved a lot. It will be great if we can sit together regardless of party or ethnic differences; if all can come to the table to see each other because before now, it was difficult to sit in the same room together but we are gradually closing that gap. I want an Akwa Ibom where love will grow; where there will be respect for one another, where there is common respect for humanity. Honestly, for me, it is not the skyscrapers or roads we build, those are simple things expected of any good government. So, you shouldn’t even be celebrated for paying salary. Why are you there?
I think the legacy I want to leave behind is to see animosity reduced to the barest minimum among our people; that we have love for one another and we can grow. If that happens and Akwa Ibom speaks with one voice and we are not pulling down ourselves; if God blesses one of us, we celebrate and push the person higher because we are a minority. For people to go through all of that and get to the top and you find out that it is your own brother that is actually giving you out! When we are a nation or state that is killing our own prophets, we will soon go blind, there will be nobody to give us direction. So, my prayer is to unite us, bring us together, and speak with one voice. Even when we have to criticise, let us do it constructively. That’s the Akwa Ibom I pray and yearn for; an Akwa Ibom where our children and grandchildren will come together. It will not be that your father did this to my father or my mother, they meet in schools and come back home but can’t marry each other. If we can just move forward, then every other thing would make sense, otherwise if you put anything here and we don’t love one another, in a matter of time, all those things will collapse. You do a project as a governor, I don’t like your face and I begin to castigate it after I arrived. Who loses? But if there is love, we will move together. You then say he couldn’t finish it, even if I have to modify it because of reasons at the time, I will complete it and not just begin to condemn it. If that happens, I will be the happiest person.
NewswatchPlus: You said you will complete the projects left behind by your predecessors. The Syringe Factory was operating but has shut down; the Coconut Factory is in limbo; it hasn’t started at all. There is the DAKKADA Tower unoccupied for years. What are you doing to address these?
Governor: The Syringe Factory is still a private ownership but the government has provided a conducive atmosphere. We all know what’s happening in the country today. Major firms are leaving because of the cost of running business. Lever Brothers, Beecham, etc. have left. Even if the government owned that factory, I am not sure it would be able to operate because few things are imported. And what is the exchange rate today? It keeps galloping; you can’t even predict it. The terrain today doesn’t really encourage a long term manufacturing concern. That’s why we have to pray for the government at the centre to be able to come up with the right policies and manage the economy to be able to get us back to where it used to be.
About the 21 storey DAKKADA Building, remember international oil companies, IOCs, said they didn’t have smart buildings and security and so couldn’t move to Akwa Ibom State. The Government at the time felt it should put up something that can attract those organisations to come and therefore built that iconic structure. What we are doing now is to attract organisations to go there. When I came, the company managing it was not doing a good job. So, we terminated the contract. We are trying to come up with a company that will be able to take that building to the world so that organisations will know we have such a structure here. About three have come to inspect it. It’s a gradual thing. We are even trying to bring the rent down. But the truth is that it is a major asset for Akwa Ibom State. The challenge is that we should be able to manage it. The only reason, in my opinion, when God chose to help Egypt in time of famine, was because the country had structure, their silos were there. A day will come when this building will be the saviour of this state. Let’s maintain it. Nobody knew the economy would be like this. After Covid-19, the economy fell flat on the surface. For me, I want to thank God that we have it. I know that a day will come that the economy will pick up again and people will come and look for a place. There is no infrastructure we have that is wasted. I will ensure that we maintain and manage them. I pray God keeps all of us alive so that we will have this conversation again.
NewswatchPlus: The Traditional Rulers Council Act seems to have brought disunity and acrimony to a State that was relatively united and peaceful before its enactment. How much pain has it inflicted on you?
Governor: That’s another serious issue but God is giving us a headway. As Governor-elect, the then governor called a meeting of traditional rulers, a sizable number came, and met with them in the Lodge. They agreed to have one President-General to lead them. It was like saying ‘give us a king that will lead us to war as other nations. I was there but didn’t say anything. They agreed and left the Government House. If there was any disagreement, first of all, people would not eat after the meeting, they would have all left and the news would have filtered out.
My job therefore as governor, before you could implement that agreement, you have to pass it to the House of Assembly. We thought, in all honesty, that they had agreed. So, we sent the Bill to the House and it was passed. But no sooner the Bill was passed, than hell was let loose. The same people that said they had agreed, I think people went to them to ask what have they done? So, the problem started and they began to say they did not agree. But everything that happens in Government House is recorded. To cut the long story short, I now have a problem on my hands. What should I do? Akwa Ibom is like a tripod. There are three major ethnic groups – Ibibio, Annang and Oron – but there are other smaller groups. I recognise them. When the issue came up, first of all, everybody told the Governor they weren’t responsible for it. But I am here to solve the problem. So, we started consulting with each and every one of them. I’m Ibibio. I consulted the three major ethnic groups and appealed that they should calm down. I don’t believe that any ethnic group should be superior to another. Now that they are disputing what they agreed on, let’s resolve the issue. Fortunately, we have crossed that bridge. The traditional rulers of the Ibibio issued a statement and said they agreed to rotation and that was the bone of contention. I called a meeting of all of them and asked about the tenure. I didn’t want to impose anything. So, I asked them to constitute a 7-man committee and give us a recommendation – two, three or four years. Some people said lifetime. I said no, we don’t want anybody to die in office; finish your tenure and go. If we say lifetime, they may begin to kill one another and I don’t want to be burying traditional rulers. I will receive the report early June and send it to the House of Assembly. It is a law, not a creation of the Governor. But again, the point is that no one ethnic group should be superimposed on another group. I am happy today that all of them have agreed to rotation and what is left is the duration.
NewswatchPlus: The NNPC has just announced that oil has been produced at OML 13 in the state since May 6, 2024. How happy are you about this addition to the State’s status as a leading oil producing state?
Governor: I like to note that we shouldn’t produce oil at the sweat and blood of the Akwa Ibomite. The people living in that community must, and indeed Akwa Ibom, benefit from the oil production. We need to look at the communities where this oil is produced. We’ve displaced houses and sources of livelihood to produce that oil. In this country, look at the communities where oil is produced, you’ve done the story over and over again. It does look like the people are not happy. If the state is happy because of more revenue, we need to look at those communities if they have schools, water; what is the overriding benefit derivable from things coming out of that area and then extend it to the state. What are the compensations – roads, etc.? Those are not things to be done by the state alone. The company that is taking petro-dollar out of the place and the Federal Government must have a strategic plan to make the community feel that their God-given endowment benefits them. That is a fishing community but are they still fishing? That is the real issue for me and until that is done, I will not be happy.
NewswatchPlus: The refinery that the Bua Group was trying to inaugurate in the state, what is the position now?
Governor: That’s another challenge of governance. We have challenges with the communities but we are talking with them. The communities have claims and counterclaims over the location. We are discussing that if we allow development to come here, it doesn’t matter where it is located. All of us and the state and even beyond will benefit. It is for us to keep educating our people that these are investments on the soil of Akwa Ibom and so long it is, it should not matter where it is sited.
NewswatchPlus: Are you aware that some foreigners are illegally producing the solid mineral called Lithium in the state?
Governor: We knew that and the Ministry of Environment is on top of it. We have stopped some companies. But you know we don’t give licences in the state. It is the Federal Government (FG) that does that. But the FG should liaise with the state. A man just appears in your backyard and shows a licence to me, it puts you in a very precarious situation. God forbid, it will look as if one is fighting the Federal Government but everybody knows my stand: I support the Federal Government and the President.
But I still believe that before issuing the licence to a mining company in my state, it should take me into consideration so that we can collaborate and work together. That’s the problem that the law carries. It is surprising that in one of our LGs, they were just mining. We had to stop them. They said they have a licence but we asked how did that happen? Even if you keep me as a gateman, you have to send me a note that someone will enter the house. You should send me a note saying when the person comes, I should let him in, not just somebody flashing a letter that he should enter the house without a word from my boss. No. That is the issue.
