JOE EFFIONG, UYO
As thefestive season gets underway, Nigerians have been advised to go beyond gifting the less privileged the traditional crumbs as handouts but should extend a helping hand to them to enable them rise to their full potentials.
Akwa Ibom state governor, Pastor Umo Eno who said this in his Christmas message to the people, explained that since it is the season of love, the well-to-do should “remember to reach out to those who may have fallen on the rough patches of life.”
“Don’t just give hand-outs, give them a hand to get up and let us together ARISE and work to extend the frontiers of the Golden Era of our collective growth, development and progress.
“Let me use this opportunity to thank all those who have expressed such heart-warming and wonderful sentiments to us, for bringing Christmas cheers to our workers through the payment of the additional one month salary, making it 13 months which you have affectionately dubbed “Eno-Mber”.
“We will continue to pay special attention to our workers and also ensure that we create the enabling environment for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, (SMEs) which is the engine of growth, in any economy to thrive.”
Eno said the rather short Xmas message was not one to reel off his scorecard as such would be captured in his New Year Day broadcast to the people dear people, during which he would “present what we have collectively achieved together in the last seven months, and what we hope to achieve in the New Year.”
He however said so far it has been seven months of hitting the ground running and working furiously to translate into practical and measurable terms our campaign promises as encapsulated in our ARISE Agenda.
The governor to the people for the prayers and support extended to him, since he was overwhelmingly voted in, on March 18th, 2023, as governor.
“We will continue to tackle those critically important kitchen-table issues, which affect families. We will continue to pay down gratuities to our retired workers, and ensure that our children go to school, especially at the primary level in an atmosphere that fosters creativity, academic excellence and social interactions, as exemplifies by the features and facilities at the newly rebuilt Model Primary School at Christ the King School, on Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo, which would be replicated in all local government areas. We are doing same, in the healthcare sector, with the soon-to- be commissioned model healthcare centre, located in Ikot Nkowk, Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area.
“This is a season of joy and goodwill. I call on our people to continue to live in peace and unity and eschew tendencies that seek to divide us. As I have been saying: Politics is long gone. It’s now time for governance.
“We should bury and throw into the trash can, the cards of hatred, of whipping non-existence schisms and of demonizing our leaders and symbols of authority. From Ibibio to Annang lands, to Oro Nation, to Obolo, we are united and shaped by the language of love and unity. We are homogenous.
“Therefore, let no one throw a poisonous substance into our otherwise calm waters of unity and kindred spirit.”