SIX years ago, Udy Umondak started a Christian TV programme, His Word Made Flesh, where she ministers to millions while using her personal life experience to help others. The programme runs on Silverbird TV. Lady Udy Umondak was the first Lady of Akwa Ibom State when Rtd Commodore Ndogisit Nkaha was the Military Governor of the state. The fashionable and trendy Udy Umondak recently decided to solicit the assistance of friends towards sustaining the TV programme. The evening also featured the launch of the special series of DVD of His Word Made Flesh. By: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL
Tag: Akwa Ibom State
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2013: The dream ride goes on
“If what is happening in Akwa Ibom State is a dream, then I do not want to wake up,” said a young woman after savouring the transformation of Akwa Ibom State. She had seen the beauty of Uyo, our capital city, in particular and the entire state in general. Uyo is a city of bright streetlights and beautiful junctions decorated with colourful fountains. At Christmas season those junctions get decorated with Christmas lights and they become Christmas parks, as thousands troop there to take pictures. The sight leaves you with a dreamy experience.
She was partly right though – the uncommon transformation of Akwa Ibom State was once a dream in my heart. A dream that Government can work! A dream that Government can exist for the people, and give practical demonstration to the age-old maxim that democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Government can be for the people!
If this happy turn of events (set loose by my dream) has led to people thinking that they are dreaming, then it has a parallel in the story of the Jews. When God turned again their captivity, the Jews confessed that they were like a people who dreamed. We are like a people who dream!
This year the dream ride of Akwa Ibom State continues. Last year we had a lot to thank God for. Over the years we had created a conducive atmosphere for industrial and economic growth in the state. We expected investors and entrepreneurs to come, so we prepared for them.
How did we prepare for them? We completed the Ibom International Airport, which we met at site-clearing level; we completed the Le Meridien Hotel and gave it the best golf course in Africa; we completed the first phase of Ibom Power Plant, which we met at 65 per cent level of completion; we constructed the Ibom Gas Plant; we built the pipe-jacking drainage system (the first of its kind in Africa) in Uyo and Abak which took care of the perennial drainage problems in both cities; we built the E-Library, an imposing edifice and the first of its kind in West Africa; we expanded our electricity coverage to 87 percent of the state and we are targeting 100 per cent by 2015; we had constructed/dualized over 300 roads and given the state one of the best road networks in our country. But, more importantly, we established the free and compulsory education programme for our children from primary school to senior secondary school. This has quadrupled enrolment in our schools.
We have also reduced infant/pregnancy mortality through our free healthcare for babies (from birth to the age of five), pregnant women and the aged. We have not had a single case of polio in the last five years because of this. In addition, we have constructed over 4,000 Inter- ministerial Direct Labour Scheme projects; commenced work on the main terminal building of the Ibom International Airport while work on the international stadium is advancing at a great speed. We have also completed three additional flyovers on the Third Ring Road and turned Uyo into one beautiful, picturesque city with trappings of modernity. These are just a sampler of what we had done in “setting a table” in Akwa Ibom State for the good Akwa Ibom people, tourists, investors and entrepreneurs.
The investors and tourists are beginning to come. But, last year, other unexpected (but very welcome) visitors started trouping in. Nigerians of all shades and hues came to the state to renew our nation. It began (and aptly too) with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) choosing, for the first time in its history, to hold its annual conference outside Lagos and Abuja. The meeting agenda was on how to renew our nation. We pointed out that Akwa Ibom, as the Land of Promise, was set to perform the role of Gilgal, the place where the ancient Israelites usually visited to renew their kingdom. This turned out to be a prophecy as thereafter the Muslim Ummah came. The National Assembly came. The Peoples Democratic Party Central Working Committee came. The list goes on.
This year we expect more people to come to “Gilgal” as we get set to expand our hospitality industry with the Tropicana Entertainment Centre. The stage of work at the Tropicana Entertainment Centre raises the hope of completion of the shopping mall, water park, mini Disney and the five-star Uyo Hilton Hotel this year.
In terms of urban renewal scheme, work will commence in the first quarter of the New Year in Eket whilst efforts shall be made to bring the problem of the decayed Eket/Ibeno Road to a conclusion. It is pertinent to mention that many land mark projects shall be commissioned this year. Such projects include the Enen Nsit road (i.e Ikot Ekan/Mbiokporo Road with three completed bridges), the first phase of Abak/Utu Nsehe/Nkwot Ikono Road with two completed bridges and Etebi-Ewang Road with the longest bridge in the state, the urban roads in Etinan Local Government Area and the Uyo/Ukpom Abak Road with a bridge amongst others. The cottage hospital in Eastern Obolo and Ika should be commissioned and put to use as soon as possible in the this year.
God has made Akwa Ibom State a reference point in good governance and a paragon in development. The journey we began in 2007 with a firm commitment to positively change forever, the lives of our people, has turned dreams into reality. My prayer is that the God who brought us this far will not abandon us. What all Akwa Ibom people need to do is remain united and then we shall grow from strength to strength. Let us never succumb to the forces of divisiveness; for such forces are not only anti-God, they are the only things we should fear.
The dream known as “uncommon transformation” continues…
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‘ALSCON’s asset devalued by 90%’
The total asset base of Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State has been devalued by 89.47 per cent since 2006, a report from its auditors has revealed.
The company prior to being sold to the Russian firm, UC Rusal, had a total asset base of $3.2billion, but the summary of the company’s financial statement since 2006 has revealed that over 89 per cent of the company’s assets, have been devalued.
A certified true copy of the audit report by the audit firm of KPMG obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, showed that from N30.98 billion in 2007, the company’s net asset value dropped to N25.2 billion in 2008; N19.4 billion in 2009 and N14.9 billion in N2010. The report for 2011 is yet to be published.
The audit report suggested that the company’s asset base suffered massive devaluation by over N101.2 billion within a year of the take-over of the plant by UC Rusal.
Ownership of the plant was transferred by the Bureau of Public for Enterprises (BPE) to the Russian firm, UC Rusal, in controversial circumstances in 2006 following the annulment of the bid won by the American-Nigerian consortium, BFIGroup Corporation in 2004.
Prior to the bid, the company’s fixed asset as at December 31, 2003 stood at about N127.7 billion,while the figure dropped marginally to N127.3 billion at the beginning of 2004, according to a report published by the audit firm, Pricewatercoopers Limited.
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Akpabio unveils projects
Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has changed the skyline of his state by the number of projects he has delivered since the inception of his administration.
Speaking at the unveiling of the projects by President Goodluck Jonathan, the governor in a statement signed by his Information Commissioner, Mr Aniekan Umanah, said the latest project is the new Governor’s Office, which was conceived to meet the demands of an ever-changing world.
”It is not only ICT compliant; it has all the facilities needed for e governance and contemporary governance. It replaces a building we met, at the inception of this administration, which lacked space for visitors and facilities for the administrative controls needed in today’s world,” he said.
On the completion date, he said though they estimated 18 months but the building was finished in just eight months. According to him, “this is a proof that we are running Government at the speed of light, because we know that time waits for no one’.
On the pipeline is the Akwa Ibom State Stadium, which will be a 30,000 seater stadium with a banquet hall, proximate conveniences for all spectators, restaurants on each floor including other amenities. It is planned to meet global standard in stadium architecture.
On why his administration is investing in sports, he said the global sports industry is four times larger than the automobile manufac-turing industry, and seven times larger than the film industry.
According to him, despite a global economic slowdown, a study by Price Waterhouse Coopers predicts a revenue growth rate of 3.7 per cent ($145.3 billion) for the sports industry by 2015 and the state intends to be part of this action.
The governor recalled that the state government took up the construction of the Ikot Ekpene-Aba Federal Road and the Ikot Ekpene – Itu-Odukpani-Calabar Federal Road to maximise the Deep Sea Port and the Ibom International Airport, which has facilities for cargo flights.
Responding President Goodluck Jonathan, who was the special guest on the occasion, asked other governors to learn from Akpabio in his infrastructure devlopment in the state. He said: “In coming to inauguration of the new Governor’s Office, Uyo, and laying the foundation stone of the 30,000-seater Akwa Ibom State Stadium, we celebrate the exemplary leadership and patriotism of Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State. He has shown us what we can achieve, when we seek pragmatic solutions to our national problems.”
He also said: I am not here because this edifice is beautiful; I am here because the principle of democratic accountability is thriving here in Akwa Ibom State. It was this principle, which, apparently, led the Akwa Ibom State Government to partner with the Federal Government and to tar some of the Federal roads in its territory for the benefit of Nigerians and to save the lives of Nigerians. What is morally right, cannot be politically wrong.”
He confirmed Federal Govern-ment’s readiness to partner with the state as co-investors in the Akwa Ibom State funded Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the Ibom International Airport, and to turn it into a National Hanger.
The character of the stadium, according to the statement, is created by its unique physical appearance that will be enclosed by a white triangular shaped out skin that wraps around the entire stands area made of acrylic glass.
The main criteria of the stadium concept he said are classic multi-purpose stadium layout with running tracks, two-tiered seating arrangement excellent viewing conditions, arena with football pitch and eight-lane 400-metre standard track including complete athletic facilities in the segment of the field and access system of the tiers with “Vomitories”, among others.
The Information Commissioner also revealed that the governor’s office has, among others, the governor’s conference hall, courtesy call room lounge, multimedia studio Executive Council chambers with video conferencing facilities, among others.