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Tag: Mr Onofiok Luke

  • Speaker slams lawmakers for poor representation

    Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Onofiok Luke has slammed some members of National Assembly for not providing quality representation to their constituents.

    Luke, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Etinan/Nsit Ibom/Nsit Ubium in the 2019 election, said “it is disturbing that great men and women who are voted into the National Assembly have lost their voices on the floor of the National Assembly”.

    The Speaker spoke yesterday at a church service organised by his campaign organisation, “Amazing Grace” to kick off his campaign at Qua Ibo, Etinan, Etinan Local Government.

    He said he would change the narrative, adding that “God had endowed me with everything in life including the voice to speak for the people”.

    Luke asked the church leadership to pray for him not to lose his voice when he got to the House of Representative.

    “God has given me everything to speak for the people. I have the heart to give. I will give back to the people the dividendS of democracy.

    “I have the voice to partner with Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, to attract the good things at the federal to our state”, he said.

    State Chairman of PDP Obong Paul Ekpo said “it is with great joy that I urge you to join our Speaker and candidate of our party for the Etinan Federal Constituency seat as he launches his campaign.

    “The primaries have come and gone, and we must all rise up to defend the interest of our party by supporting the candidates of our party.

    “I have absolute confidence in your capacity and competence to represent our people. I wish you a successful, issue-based campaign.

    ‘’Again, be assured of my support in all spheres. To our party faithful in Etinan Federal Constituency, I urge that we do the needful to market our candidates sincerely”

  • AKHA passes 26 bills into law, 120 resolutions

    The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has passed 26 bills into law and reached 120 resolutions from inception of the 6th assembly, the Speaker in 2015, Mr. Onofiok Luke has said.

    Luke, who disclosed this Wednesday in Uyo at the closing sitting of the 3rd legislative year of the assembly, said the assembly passed into law 15 private member bills out of 41 presented and 11 executive bills with about 37 others currently at different legislative stages.

    He explained that the modest achievement of the House was due to the corporate commitment of members to accelerating legislative actions on all bills and motions before it.

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    His words, “As the People’s Assembly, the laws which we have crafted are to meet the long term development goals of the state, as well as the short term ambitions of government.

    “We have passed bills to fast-track economic development and to diffuse the dividends of democracy directly to the masses. We have passed bills to strengthen local government administration in the state; bills to hasten the dispensation of justice; bills to fortify the state’s education system particularly at the tertiary level; bills to boost the revenue base of Akwa Ibom; bills to meet the social, health, and infrastructural needs of the people; environmental protection laws; and only recently, we passed into law the bill to create and regulate job opportunities for Akwa Ibom people in corporate organizations in the state. Today, we have passed into law the Akwa Ibom State Violence against Persons Prohibition Bill 2018.

    “With 35 motions and more than 120 house resolutions standing to the credit of the current assembly, this house has been steadily making interventions and defending the interest of Akwa Ibom people.

    “We have held public hearings and openly treated petitions to the house by our constituents; we have engaged in rigorous oversight tasks with the view to oiling the wheels of government for optimal performance”.

    Luke further said, “Let me use this opportunity on behalf of every honourable member to express our collective gratitude to His Excellency, Governor Udom Emmanuel for making the environment conducive enough for the collaboration of executive and legislative powers to the benefit of Akwa Ibom people. I also express my gratitude to the”.

    He urged members of the assembly to remain focused in the task of making people-oriented laws within the remaining four years to consolidate on the achievements of the Governor Emmanuel administration.

  • Akwa Ibom Speaker calls for prosecution of fraudulent leaders

    The Speaker of Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, Mr Onofiok Luke, has called for the prosecution of community leaders and government officials who divert public funds through fraudulent companies.

    Luke made the call while delivering a lecture on Wednesday, at the second public lecture of Ritman University, Ikot Ekpene, on “Good Governance: A Panacea to Community Development’’.

    He said that community development effort must be devoid of white elephant projects to showcase massive buildings and attract praises, but sincere initiative and effort toward addressing the actual need of the people.

    He decried that community leaders in the Niger Delta have failed in their little way to be accountable to the grassroots and engage in cases of brazen thievery.

    The speaker pointed out that most leaders in the country and indeed Africa have failed in their responsibilities, adding that leadership was a social contract.

    “It is also a fact that most leaders have failed their respective communities. Leaders have abandoned the oath of office and put their selfish interest above the communal interest.

    `Some of these leaders are not altruistic but deploy the common wealth for their selfish gains”.

    “The need for attitudinal re-orientation cannot be over emphasised. Altruism shall be the guiding principle if our leaders must deliver the dividend of good governance to the people who elected them. We must return to the team spirit,” Luke said.

    The speaker stressed the need for leaders to think more of building an efficient and empowered community rather than building personal empires from the common wealth.

    He said that government must be seen to be participatory, transparent, accountable, equitable and respect for the rule of law.

    He said that leaders whether those voted or appointed into leadership positions must have genuine desire to serve the people than overbearing quest for personal aggrandizement.

    The speaker recommended that priority must be placed on provision of basic social amenities to make quality of life meaningful in communities across Africa.

    Luke also challenged religious leaders, family heads and leaders of various units of communities to preach and act towards unity and not division, and to avoid taking undue advantage of the vulnerable populace through deceit and false prophesies.

    He stressed the need for academic institutions to be fair and disciplined, even as he expected students to work hard in their academic pursuits.

    Besides, the speaker challenged the youths to rise above ethnic bigotry, vagaries of the past and positioned themselves for good leadership.

    The Vice Chancellor, Ritman University, Ikot Ekpene, Prof. Celestine Ntuen, said that youths hold the ace in developing the communities and the nation at large.

    Ntuen said that youths were the most potent and most viable among the resource that the country was blessed with.

    He lamented some greedy politicians who drained the nation dry were able to succeed with their nefarious act because youths complicit with them.

  • Report: A/Ibom House committee recovers N37.88m

    The Akwa Ibom House of Assembly on Thursday ratified a report on the state’s 2015 Public Account submitted by its Committee on Public Account which recovered N37. 88 million for the state treasury.

    The Committee Chairman, Mr Friday Iwok, told newsmen after the plenary, that the amount was recovered from public officers who either refused to retire their imprest or collected excess subventions from the government.

    According to him, the Financial Regulations stipulate that those who collect special imprest should retire it immediately.

    Iwok noted that the committee, during the investigation, discovered that those who collected special imprest did not retire same as expected.

    He said that 11 public officers had been recommended to the state Head of Service for disciplinary action for refusal to appear before the committee to answer their queries.

    “We had 86 audit queries from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the total amount that was involved is N7.67 billion – those that refused to retire their imprest and those that collected excess subvention.

    “We did what we did because of the image of government. In some ministries, we have to bring back four permanent secretaries who had retired to appear before the committee.

    “We have recovered revenue for state government; we had a cash refund of over N1.18 million. From deductions, we have recovered N36.69 million, all together we recovered N37.88 million.

    He said the committee had recommended appropriate sanctions to Ministries, Departments and Agencies that did not comply with the financial regulations.

    He said the report added that the Office of the Head of Service should invoke relevant sections of the financial regulations and civil service rules to punish those who refused to answer audit queries sent to them.

    Earlier at plenary, the house had passed a resolution after a motion by the Leader, Mr Udo Akpan, ratifying the committee’s report.

    The Speaker, Mr Onofiok Luke, directed the clerk Mrs Mandu Umoren, to communicate the decision of the house to the governor and other relevant authorities for immediate action.