OFONIME UMANAH
Some seven years ago, Ukanafun was like Nazareth. No good reports were heard from there. Nobody wanted to live there. People fled the place because of the activities of rascally, gun-wielding young boys who made the Akwa Ibom Local Government very unattractive, uncomfortable and uninhabitable.
The natives fled the place in droves, relocating to nearby Abak Local Government. It was generally believed that nothing good could come out of Ukanafun. The situation also affected the Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo local governments, vicariously that is.
Businesses were shut down. People’s sources of livelihood were truncated. Ukanafun was virtually deserted. Not even the political leaders were willing to visit the place, let alone sleep there overnight. Ukanafun was in the news for very negative reasons. Like the biblical Nazareth, nothing good was ever expected to come from the local government.
But history has been made. One of the villages in the local government, Ikot Udo Obobo, that was the hotbed of hostilities, the forsaken village, is now making history in a very positive sense, seven years after.
History was recorded there on many fronts on Saturday, November 6. That was the day Nigeria’s vice president, Senator Kashim Shettima stepped his feet in the village, not to inspect dead bodies as a result of the activities of some militants, but to honour his friend, a son of the soil and member of the House of Representatives, Dr Unyime Idem, who has been working for the people of Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency of the state for the past 77 months.
Shettima’s visit was historical in a number of ways. His visit was the first to any local government in Akwa Ibom outside the state capital. His visit was the first to any village in the south-south. And he was there to perform a historic assignment-present a symbolic cheque of N1billion to 1000 beneficiaries of the family empowerment grants sponsored by Idem, the first in the history of Nigeria.
And Shettima did not hide his feelings about this as he addressed the mammoth crowd that gathered at the Unyime Idem Empowerment Centre in Ikot Udo Obobo, Ukanafun LGA, to witness and congratulate the beneficiaries and also thank Idem for the historic and people centric gesture. About 22 members of the House of Representatives, including the deputy speaker, Benjamin Kalu, were present. Again, it was the first time such number of National Assembly members would be seated in a village in Akwa Ibom, not for a burial of their colleague, but to support one of their own whose dream of producing a millionaire in each of the about 33,000 families in the Ukanafun/Oruk Anam federal constituency, is beginning to manifest.
As Shettima spoke, he did a roll call of all the lawmakers that came from Abuja. But he specifically called the names of some of them and challenged them to emulate Idem if they wanted to go far in their political career. Then he hinted that having seen what he has never seen anywhere in Nigeria, the federal government would also copy from Idem, and ensure that at least one millionaire is produced from every Nigerian family, by the Tinubu government.
An elated Shettima told the crowd that Idem’s record breaking empowerment aligned with Tinubu’s policy on “economic empowerment and job creation, support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as catalysts to stimulate local commerce, reduction of multidimensional poverty and expanding social protection, and encouraging public-private and legislative partnership.”
While praising Idem, he said “the gesture is an act of sacrifice and deep commitment to the social and economic prosperity of the people Hon. Idem represents. The initiative also portrays deep synergy between the Bola Tinubu administration and government institutions, legislators, private actors, and community stakeholders to achieve inclusive development.”
Idem, feeling fulfilled that Nigeria had emptied into his village, spoke on the benefits of the initiative to include “empowering farmers, businesses, start-ups, women-led enterprises, young entrepreneurs, family cooperatives and community-based ventures,” expressing hope that the initiative will stimulate grassroots economic activity, improve household income, create jobs and youth engagement and trigger a ripple effect of opportunity across our constituency.”
He urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the grant, promising that subsequent batches of the programme will cover every family across the federal constituency, as “no one will be left out in this initiative.”
The state governor, in his remarks as presented by his deputy, commended the man he calls The China Man(because of the number of constituents he has sent to China for training), for always providing tangible dividends of democracy to his constituents, pledging the state government’s support for him to continue to touch lives.
