Being The Speech /Presentation by His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno, Governor, Akwa Ibom State, At the Akwa Ibom Dialogue And The Formal Launch Of The A.R.I.S.E. Agenda, July 24-27th, Ibom Icon Hotel And Golf Resorts
PROTOCOL
1.Let me on behalf of the Government and the people of Akwa Ibom State, welcome our distinguished invited guests, especially my political father, the immediate past Governor of this great State, His Excellency, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, CON, the Chairman of this occasion and the former Minister of Budget and National Planning- Distinguished Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, and all the policy experts who have agreed to lend their expertise to help distil and deepen the layers of our Economic Blueprint called ARISE Agenda, which we are gathered here, to formally launch.
2.We have invited you all, for this policy talk-shop appropriately tagged “Akwa Ibom Dialogue”, so we can come and reason together across party and ideological lines and move the needle of development of our dear State further.
3.The question therefore, is: Why Akwa Ibom Dialogue? The answer is simple: In the course of my electioneering campaigns, I had made a firm promise and commitment to operate a government where all strands of thought from Akwaibomites across party lines, and other policy experts drawn from all corners of our dear nation and in the Diaspora would be sought and canvassed.
4.The ARISE Agenda is a detailed and well -articulated governance document, which we have painstakingly assembled. We could have gone ahead with its implementation without exposing it for further analysis, but we felt our dear people should have a buy-in and take ownership in its articulation and eventual implementation.
5.Let me again thank the good people of Akwa Ibom State for the overwhelming support you gave us, during the electioneering campaigns and the solid and unassailable mandate you entrusted us with, on March 18th, 2023, to superintend over the affairs of this great State.
6. I am deeply heartened and grateful for your kind prayers and all the great and inspiring things you have said about us, since we came on board. Akwa Ibom State belongs to us all, we have no other State to go to, except this great State. We must de- emphasize politics of destruction, we must eschew hatred, we must deepen the cords of our unity and we must invest in the sustainable growth and development of this great State.
7.I envision a vibrant, inclusive, diversified and highly industrialized economy for this State, using highly developed human and material resources.
My Blueprint focuses on the achievements of eight ambitious but lofty goals, through the provision of five group aspirations collectively called the ARISE Agenda
7.The ARISE Agenda is an acronym which stands for five bold aspirations: Agricultural Revolution, Rural Development. Infrastructural Maintenance and Advancement, Security Management, Educational and Health Sector. This is further broken down into 17 Focal Sectors, detailing what we expect to achieve in each of the sectors, in the short to medium and long terms. To add more flesh to what we have proposed to achieve in these sectors is what informed the need for this dialogue.
8.This Government is determined to improve the condition of living in the rural areas. We will continue to provide economically viable roads to stimulate the economy of our rural dwellers. We will place deep accent on cottage hospitals, provide more ambulance services and continue to maintain the standards of the secondary health care facilities, such as general hospitals which my worthy predecessor heavily invested in.
9.We will ignite agricultural revolution in this State, with integrated farms, investment in oil palm plantations; we will construct model primary and secondary schools in each of the three senatorial districts, protect our environment through renewable energy. We will equip our people with the necessary skills to be competitive and plans are in top gear to set up the Ibom Leadership Entrepreneurial Development Centre (Ibom LED). We will create a Ministry that will focus on our internal security, and we will invest deeply in tourism industry, which today thanks to Ibom Air, has made our State, a destination of choice for Nigerians and other foreigners.
10 In the past two months, we have engaged and played host to several potential investors across sectors, who are desirous of investing in our State.
11. Please permit me at this point, to go deeper into with what we expect to see in each of the Seventeen Focal Sectors.
12.In Agriculture, we will develop full value chains for the major economic crops in the State, using farm settlement schemes and Integrated farm systems.
13.In Healthcare, we will revitalize our Primary Healthcare centers, provide new primary healthcare centers where non exist, ensure the existence of effective health insurance scheme; and establish a Medical City along the Ibom Specialist Hospital-Four Point by Sheraton corridor.
14.In education, we shall build model schools, remodel dilapidated school structures, priotize training and the retraining of teachers. promote improved learning standards, privatize vocational and technical education.
15. We will improve the access of our people to critical infrastructure such as clean and potable water, electricity, and good road network.
16.We will deploy a host of women empowerment initiatives; and will encourage and assist women in business start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures.
17.We will provide massive skills acquisition initiatives to empower youths; revive and promote inter-school sporting activities where new talents in sports will be discovered.
18.In Information Technology (ICT), we will encourage automated processes, and entrench e-governance by gradually migrating from a manual mode of operations to a digital mode in the public service and ensure the effective operations of AKWAGIS for ease of doing business in the state
19.We will provide improved environmental management practices; develop the blue economy and encourage recycling of waste material to create wealth from waste. We will provide affordable housing units across the State.
20. We will implement an integrated transport system in the State as well as the establishment of industrial layouts and clusters in the State; encourage the production of Made-In-Akwa Ibom brand of products.
21.We will provide critical infrastructure and basic services in the rural areas.
22.We will rebuild dilapidated tourist sites and put our state in the forefront of tourism in the nation.
23. We will work to ensure the improvement of electricity and promote excellence in Public Service delivery among others.
24. In conclusion, I am hopeful that through the break -out groups that would follow after this opening ceremonies, you will avail us of more inputs so at the end of this event, we will present a more detailed document of governance that will lift our Sate to further layers of growth and development, especially through Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) which according International Finance Corporation contribute more than half of every nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP.)
25. Let me again thank you for your kind participation in this four-day event. As a deeply transparent government, we hope to publish the conclusions in the final Roadmap to be released, based on your expected contributions.
26. Akwa Ibom is on the ascendance, we owe our people nothing more than good governance and that’s what I promised you my dear people, during my electioneering campaign and that’s what we are determined to do, and I expect the incoming Honourable Commissioners to interpret and run with the vision that the ARISE Agenda represents.
27. Thank you for helping put the building blocks of our economic Blueprint that we are hopeful, will lead to our shared prosperity, growth, and development. God bless.