PROTOCOL
1. Let me again, congratulate you on your nomination into the State Executive Council, (EXCO) and your successful clearance by the State House of Assembly.
2. Permit me to thank the Speaker, Rt. Honourable Udeme Otong and indeed the Honourable Members of the House, for the expeditious manner they handled the screening and eventual clearance of the Honourable Commissioners-designate, who have now just been sworn in as substantive Commissioners.
3. I have been asked this question severally: “Your Excellency, we had expected to see the injection of new blood into the State EXCO, why are you bringing back the same old blood”?
4. My answer has been standard and direct: You do not abandon your foot soldiers shortly after a successful execution of a major victory. I know these ‘old blood’ very well. We went to the battle to continue good governance together, we were in the trenches together; we swatted away the bullets of vicious attacks together, most of you spent long hours traversing the length and crannies of this State together with me, most of you took political arrows on my behalf.
5. Therefore, it is only fitting, we bring back tested hands with the right experience and who understand the System, to join us, and work for continuation of the peace, growth and transformation of our State in line with our ARISE Agenda and the Roadmap they will soon be presented.
6. Today, as Honourable Commissioners, you have a well-distilled and condensed Roadmap to guide you in the execution of the responsibilities of your office. You may be old blood, but what you have now, is a new Template of Execution and Implementation and you are expected to wholly execute all that is within your areas of responsibility as outlined in the Roadmap. The timelines and the deliverables are well spelt-out. You were brought back to ensure and facilitate continuity and you must justify this trust we have invested in you.
7. My political father used to say something very fundamentally apt, which I want to repeat here: Please do not come to me, to report efforts, bring me results.”
8. Therefore, my dear colleagues, Akwa Ibom people want results; results in ensuring food security through Agricultural revolution we have promised to ignite. Akwa Ibom people are waiting for us to connect the dots in the rural areas, by bringing massive development in those areas and change the narratives and circumstance of our rural dwellers.
9. Akwa Ibom people are looking forward to seeing more expansions in our infrastructure. We owe them the continuous joy of living in a safe and secure state, which informed our decision to create a new Ministry - Ministry of Internal Security, dedicated to ensuring continuous peace and security of lives and property of our people both in the urban and rural areas.
10. This Ministry will continue to collaborate with our security agencies and work towards ensuring the peace we have enjoyed is maintained and deepened, so investors and tourists will continue to make our State their destination of choice. We owe our children the best public funded education possible. Most of us here, are products of public schools, we must continue to invest heavily in both the physical structures and the quality of learning, so our children may be competitive and equipped with the right skills-set
11. Let me state here very firmly: All political appointees must go back and stimulate rural developments in your respective wards and local government councils. That responsibility starts with you! You must work with the people in your respective wards, you must let the people feel the impact of governance. Governance starts at the grassroots, you must be a symbol of government in your local government and ward levels, and must engage your people regularly . We will monitor this closely, so please take this very seriously.
12. This government is determined to expand development in our rural areas, we must grow our people and ignite in them a spirit of hard work and a sense of responsibility. Our youths must be engaged so we can stem a culture of entitlement, without corresponding work, which as you all know, is alien to us, but which, sadly appears to have been internalized by our people. Our people are exceptionally gifted and all we need, is to galvanize them towards productive enterprises.
13. Let me again congratulate the Honorary Special Advisers that were appointed yesterday. I ask you to work collaboratively with them to advance our development. The job and responsibilities of each of the Honourable Commissioners and Special Adviser are well spelt -out in the Roadmap, so I expect you to work harmoniously, so together, we will deliver good governance to our people and prove to the world that indeed, this great State, truly is the Land of Promise
14. The first EXCO, will sit tomorrow morning at 11 am and afterwards, you may enjoy ‘Happy hour’ with people. Congratulations once again, my dear colleagues and God’s speed!
15. God Bless Akwa Ibom State!
#AriseAgenda