Office of the Head of Civil Service

Mrs. Ekerebong M. Akpan, is the Head of Civil Service, who, until her appointment, was the Permanent Secretary Hospitals Management Board and Vice Dean, College of Permanent Secretaries. She has variously been described as a dynamic and astute administrator, a go-getter, thorough and firm leader, master-trainer and a team player.  She is the 3^rd consecutive female Head of Civil Service of Akwa Ibom State and the fifth to be so elevated to this exalted position since the creation of the State.

She studied at the famous Etinan Institute before proceeding to the Federal Government College, Ikot Ekpene where she obtained the Higher School Certificate in 1977. She also attended the University of Lagos where her exceptional brilliance shone and in June 1981, she graduated from the  Department of Sociology with a Bachelor of Science Degree (2nd class Upper Division) and proceeded to the then Gongola State now, Adamawa State, for her National Youth Service Corps programme.

Upon graduation, Mrs. Akpan was offered an appointment with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), but she was driven by her passion for academics to embrace the Civil Service as a Lecturer in the then Cross River State Civil Service Training Centre.  She rose to the post of a Principal of the Centre in 2004, where she made high standards, discipline and academic excellence the hallmark of the centre throughout her tenure.

Mrs. Ekerebong Akpan’s track record prepared her for greater heights in the Service. Hence, in 2010 she was meritoriously elevated to the position of a Permanent Secretary by the Akwa Ibom State Government and was posted to the Department of Establishments.

In June 2013, Mrs. Akpan was posted to the Hospitals Management Board, where her resourcefulness was again brought to bear. This trailblazer will be remembered at the board for the unprompted intervention programmes on secondary health facilities and the popular Medical Revival Advocacy Campaign which encouraged people to embrace health facilities provided by government, instead of habitually relying on self-medication, quacks, spiritualists and traditional medical attendants.

As a proficient master-trainer who believes that one cannot give what one does not have, Mrs. Akpan has facilitated many seminars and workshops aimed at building capacity of employees in the State Public Service. She has also attended various seminars and workshops on management and corporate administration both locally and internationally. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration. She has several meritorious and excellence awards in her honour. Among these are the House of Representatives’ Committee on Governmental Affairs Award as one of the Most Outstanding Permanent Secretaries in the service of Akwa Ibom State Government in 2014  and the Rotary International’s  “4-Way Test Award” of 2016.

This astute administrator, lawn tennis player, public relations practitioner, motivational speaker, consultant trainer, team leader par excellence and a sweet mother of the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service has accepted the task of working hard in silence so that success could make the noise’ and wants the entire Akwa Ibom work force to follow. Her tenure as Head of Civil Service has already recorded tremendous achievements and the Civil Service has been taken to that much desired next level.

Mrs. Ekerobong Akpan, was appointed the Head of Akwa Ibom State Civil Service with effect from 1st November, 2015 by His Excellency, Mr. Udom Emmanuel.  She is married and blessed with lovely and talented children.