At a gathering of Speakers for Akwa Ibom

Late in December 2016, Speakers of 12 State Houses of Assembly converged on Akwa Ibom for the third Constituency Briefing of the Speaker of Akwa Ibom State, Honourable Luke Onofiok. Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa reports the gathering and the outpouring of democratic dividends for the Nsit Ubium Constituency.

 

A few days to Christmas of 2016, a huge traffic of political top shots found their ways through the Akwa Ibom International Airport into the city of Uyo. Airports in Abuja and Lagos were busy with state parliamentarians heading to the Akwa Ibom capital.

Many made it to the city but many others, especially parliamentarians from states of the South-West and parts of North-Central were disappointed by airlines, which failed to keep to their flight schedules due to scarcity of aviation fuel.

It was all about the Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Honourable Luke Onofiok, who was marking the third edition of his Constituency Briefing at the headquarters of Nsit Ubium Local Government and the Headquarters of Nsit Ubium State Constituency. But far more than that, it was a special congregation of the Speakers of State Houses of Assembly in a bid to cement operations at the legislative arm of government across the 36 states.

One issue for discussion behind the closed doors was the ongoing constitution amendment at the National Assembly. Thus, there was the formal and the informal aspects of the trip. At the thanksgiving gathering at the headquarters of Nsit Ubium State Constituency, Hon. Luke did not just showcase his political reach; he also displayed the series of dividends of democracy for his people. The calibre of dignitaries on hand at the brief but eventful ceremony easily gave it away as harbouring much more than constituency briefing.

The apparatus of the Akwa Ibom State government was fully on hand. Governor Udom Emmanuel and his wife Martha; Deputy Governor, Elder Moses Ekpo; the club of 26 (members of Akwa-Ibom House of Assembly); Speakers of Kebbi, Enugu, Niger, Kaduna, Rivers, Kwara, Cross Rivers, Adamawa, Abia and Ebonyi as well as members of their Assemblies were also on hand to honour one of their own.

There was also Col. AbduAziz Yar’Adua, representing the Yar’Adua family, as well as

Hajia Amina Ahmadu, who represented the former First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua. Also on hand was the political leader of the Speaker’s constituency, who is the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council of University of Benin (UNIBEN), Senator Effiong Bob, Senator Albert Bassey and Senator Aniete Okon as well as former Military Administrator of the state, Air Commodore Idongesit Ikanga (retd), former Governor Victor Attah as well as Cols. Sam Ewang, Yakubu Bello and John Eyikaya, among others.

The day started with thanksgiving and sermons presented by Rev. Ntia Ntia of the Full Life Christian Centre, who highlighted the essence of thanksgiving. He said that great prophets of God in the Bible celebrated thanksgiving to showcase the goodness of God in different situations, adding that the Bible recorded fluidly the thanksgiving services of King David, Noah, Prophet Nehemiah and even Jesus Christ.

“God expects thanksgiving and anyone who does not do it may end up doing it in tears. Thanksgiving reveals the state of your heart; whether you are grateful and pleased with God and that you are not ashamed to testify publicly,” the Rev. said.

He further enumerated the benefits of thanksgiving as including multiplication of blessings, promotion and elevation, judgement for the wicked (as seen in the wife of King David made barren by God) generational relevance and access to divine presence.

Hon. Onofiok Luke, who mounted the podium afterwards, told the story of how he miraculously secured a return to the State Assembly in 2015 even when his fate had been sealed. “I give glory to God Almighty who is first on my protocol. Without God, I will not be here. My fate was sealed from returning to the House of Assembly but God answereth by fire. I put up a text to my man of God who answered by saying except you don’t worship a living God. Your God will answer by fire,” the Speaker, said adding that he miraculously got his seat back and was eventually elected Speaker.

He said that the day would be divided into two parts; the thanksgiving, the religious aspect and the political side of it, which was the constituency briefing.

Done with the thanksgiving, he longed straight to the political, involving a rendition of his assignments as a lawmaker performing the functions of representation, oversights and lawmaking. He said that he had, so far, initiated 13 bills out of which four have been passed into law.  He, thereafter, ignited a rain of democracy dividends, which was further supported by Governor Emmanuel.

He told the people that in collaboration with the pet project of the wife of the state governor, Deaconess Martha, the Family Empowerment and Youth Reorientation Programme, (FEYReP), he had been able to lift numerous constituents with scholarships and business empowerments targetted at enhancing the state’s human Development Index.

He enumerated some of the projects he had influenced in his constituency as including the construction of market stalls at Ndukpoise and Ikot Edibon; Water Projects at Obio Ekid, Ntit and Oton Ikot Ansang as well as provision of electricity transformers to communities, grading of internal roads within the state constituency and attraction of intervention projects in education and health sectors through the inter-ministerial Direct Labour Committee.

The Speaker maintained that in 2012, he kick-started two key empowerment schemes– the Constituency Transport Scheme (CTS) and the giving of Seed Fund for Business Start-up (SFBS)  which he has sustained ever since. Through the schemes, the lawmaker supports youths going into small scale businesses with a N1 million seed fund. He said that the 2016 edition would feature improved contributions from that perspective.

He also announced the introduction of two additional schemes, including the Skill Development Scheme, which he said is aimed at helping to commercialise acquired skills and the Constituency Education Support Programme. He announced the donation of 16 vehicles to the Constituency Transport Scheme (including 10 mini buses for 10 women and six saloon cars for six women). Five of the mini buses were donations from FEYReP; there were also 10 motorbikes for 10 youths in that category. In the business support category, 10 youths got N100, 000 each for business start-ups, another 20 got N50, 000 each to support trading. Another set of 10 women got N100, 000 each to support their businesses, while another set of 10 women received N50, 000 worth of petty trading packages. He also gave out 10 sewing machines for women fashion designers and 10 vulcanising machines for 10 youths as well as 10 hairdressing equipment added with 10 power generating sets for 10 women.

Under the Constituency Education Support Programme, the Speaker announced a bursary award of N20, 000 each for 100 students, while 10 indigent students are to receive scholarship worth N100, 000 each. Five students of the Law School are to get N100, 000 each to in addition to specialised textbooks and computers being given to five selected schools in the Constituency.

Onofiok also gave a bit of scorecard of the Akwa Ibom government when he reported that some 200 kilometres of roads had been constructed but also pleaded with the governor to ensure the immediate completion of Uyo-Etinan-Eket road and the construction of Ikot Ekpan-Ntit-Oton-Edemidimokpot-Mbiekene-Nnung Obong road, with a spur to Ikot Etobo-Atan-Ikot Imo road.

The Speaker ended on a promissory and prayerful note, saying: “Dear constituents, my promise to you today is to continue to raise the bar in my service to you. I shall continue to keep my doors open and encourage you to contribute to what we are doing at the state constituency office.

“My parting word to you today is that you remain unwavering in your support to His Excellency, the governor, as this will spur him to do even more. I ask for your kind prayers also. Pray for the success of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, pray for our governor and every government officials.”

Pro-Chancellor and chairman of the Governing Council of UNIBEN, Senator Effiong Bob, introduced more political colour to the arena when he told the governor that the constituency will support him to return in 2019.

“What we say is what we do. You started your political career here and we said a lot of things, which came to pass. It shall come to pass in 2019,” Senator Bob said with applause from the crowd.

Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Assemblies and Speaker of Kebbi State House of Assembly, Alhaji Samaila Kamba, said that the lawmakers were in the state to rejoice with one of their own, whom he said “does not belong to only Akwa Ibom but the entire country.”

“We have the support of all Speakers who are not here. Transport challenges due to Aviation fuel scarcity caused their absence. We appreciate his contributions to the development of democracy in Nigeria,” the Kebbi Speaker said.

Governor Udom Emmanuel, in his speech at the occasion, told the beneficiaries of the democracy dividends to utilise it for the benefits of the constituency adding that big things start from small places. “A human being turned sand to chips and now we have Silicon Valley,” the governor said, adding that to whom much is given much is expected. He said that he was elated to see the Speaker identify with his constituents as according to him, it would be good for politics if all politicians identify with his people.

The governor added his own version of dividends’ rain when he announced a donation of N200, 000 each to five persons from each ward of the constituency and insisted that at least two of the five must be women.

He concluded: “In Onofiok Luke I have found a perfect partnership to develop the state. He has passion for the development of the state.”