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| Front view of the newly commissioned e-Governor's office |
One thing about governance is that
every leader comes to town with his level of leadership know-how, which may not
be far from one’s experience over the years and definitely the background.
For the Executive Governor of
Akwa-Ibom State, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio, his style of leadership which has
earned him ‘Akpabioism’ classification as declared by industry watchers of the
administration since 2007 cannot be over-emphasised.
Pundits believe that in every ‘ism’
like Akpabioism, there is a doctrine, system or practice that is accepted as
authoritative by some group of school of thoughts of influence. This dynamism
tends to explain in any form the phenomena of the terms of some immanent force
or energy, according to www.thefreedictionary.com.
Gov. Akpabio believes so much it
has been God’s wills that kept him as the leader of the state; hence he decided
to stand apart to be accounted among the top governors across the 36 States of
the federation.
It was not surprising, therefore,
that within a space of one month, President Goodluck Jonathan accepted to visit
the state on two different occasions; both for commissioning and laying
foundation stones of projects.
The latest being the laying
foundation of the new Olympic size stadium complex and commissioning of the
multimedia driven new governor’s office in Uyo, the state capital, built by Julius
Berger within 13 months.
Uniquely, the new edifice consist
Governor’s office, conference room, courtesy call room, lounge, multimedia
studio, executive council chambers with video conferencing facilities,
cafeteria with kitchen facilities, tea and coffee room, reception, waiting
rooms, press room, staff offices and 3 staircases and two elevators.
Gov. Akpabio told newsmen that he
believes in infrastructure rebirth and that is why he is earnestly doing all he
could to ensure that his administration built upon whatever was met on ground,
raise the bar to steadily attract investors to the state.
“The vision of my administration is
to build a prosperous, highly educated, technology driven, ethnically
harmonious, caring and pacesetting State in Nigeria,” he declares, stressing
that the policy thrust of his team focuses around industrialization in order to
create employment opportunities for citizens, especially the youth.
He expressed the hope of
establishing one industry in each of the 31 local government areas in the state
using the public-private-partnership (PPP) model.
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| Gov. Akpabio |
Also speaking recently at the ITU
Telecom World in Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE), Gov. Akpabio aligned some
key developments of Akwa-Ibom to the transformational agenda of Mr. President,
one of which was the establishment of the first e- library on the continent.
“The e-Library was designed as a
web interface resource center for all. It has over 30,000 different books, and
16,500,000 e-documents for children, students, teachers, parents and
researchers, downloadable in Media Player version 3, (MP3) at your beck and
call. It also has a distance learning support and professional examination
facilities, and the e-library has a state-of-the-art anti-theft book security
devices. It also has a mobile e-library
version,” he said.
A recent visit to the e-Library, by
DigitalSENSE Business News confirms Gov. Akpabio’s claims.
It was not entirely out of place
for the visiting President Jonathan to declare that he will never be tired of
coming to Akwa-Ibom State to commission projects, as long as the Akpabioism
continues to evolve by completing projects to move the country forward. He
enjoined other governors to emulate Akpabio style of governance.
Equally speaking, Hon. Commissioner
for Information and Communications, Aniekan Umanah, said Akwa-Ibom is ready for
investors, noting that most nations are aspiring to enter the fast lane of
global industrial development, founded on a vibrant and prosperous economy. To
this end, Gov. Akpabio’s administration has set aside in 2012 budget the sum of
N20 billion as Industrial Development Fund to be access by entrepreneurs in the
state.
According to him, with the rich
natural resource endowments across the 31 LGAs of the State, Akwa-Ibom is
undoubtedly ready to host investors from all parts of the world. A typical
example is what is going on at the Ibom Tropicana entertainment centre, a
replica of Sun City of South Africa and famous Disneyland. Some of the features
include Cineplex with six screen cinema halls and a seat capacity of 1030
completed and commissioned; on-going standard shopping mall with 59 shops and
two banks service corridors; ultra-modern convention centre with a multi-floor
capacity of 5000; a 15-story five star hotel with 250 rooms, currently work has
reached the 14th floor and on completion will serve 250 rooms to name a few.
DigitalSENSE Business News, recalls
that Akwa-Ibom State was created on September 23, 1987 from the former Cross
River State, with a population of about four million, while other major cities
include Ikot Ekpene, Eket, Abak, Oron, Ikot Abasi and Etinan, even as the
sub-ethnic groups comprise of Ibibio, Annang, Oron, Eket, Ibeno, Mbo, Okobo and
Andonis.
Remmy Nweke
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
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