Wednesday 2 March 2016

AKPABIOISM: THE UNCOMMON TRANSFORMATION OF AKWA IBOM STATE.


20th Anniversary Specialist Hospital: A Legacy to Tertiary Health Care Delivery

 

Governor Godswill Akpabio takes a very holistic approach in his agenda of uncommon transformation. This Uncommon Transformation touches every sector. In the health sector he is sparing no expenses in building and equipping general hospitals and health centres. His target is to have a general hospital in every local government area. About six have been completed and commissioned while several construction work is ongoing in others. In addition, old hospitals are being renovated and rehabilitated. But the most beautiful feather on the cap of Akpabio’s achievement in the health sector is the ultra-modern referral centre fondly tagged 20th Anniversary Specialist Hospital. This is an ambitious project which Akpabio has vowed to complete and commission by September, 2014. During our tour of the complex, the project manager assured us that it is very possible to achieve 100% completion by September if His Excellency continues to make funds available as he has been doing. The work, so far, is more than 80% completed.

According to the health Commissioner of Akwa Ibom State, this specialist hospital will serve as a referral centre that will offer services beyond the state and possibly beyond the country. Akpabio’s vision for this hospital project is to arrest capital flight in form of health tourism overseas. Although there are people who would prefer to go overseas to treat such ailments as headache and toothache, there are also those who genuinely have good causes to seek medical help outside the country due to lack of expertise and adequate facilities and equipment within the country for the treatment of very complicated  health conditions. To such, the 20th Anniversary Specialist Hospital would be a welcome development. And to the government of Akwa Ibom State, the huge amount spent on medical bills of top government functionaries for treatment overseas can be channeled to some other areas of need within the state for the benefit of the uncommon people of Akwa Ibom State.To ensure that the hospital does not become a white elephant project, plans are in place to involve the private sector and overseas partnership in its management.


In addition to the 20th Anniversary Specialist Hospital and all the general hospitals, Akpabio has also invested in health of the people by providing free medical care for pregnant women, children under the age of five and people above the age of 60. The quality health care facilities and provisions are not restricted to only residents of Uyo and its environs. But all local government areas in Akwa Ibom State benefit from these Uncommon Transformation programmes. Some major uncommon health care transformation high lights in local government areas include:
1. Construction of five new general hospitals in five local government areas (Essien Udim, Ibeno, Ukanafun, Eastern Obolo and Ika).
2. Construction of primary health care centres in the three senatorial districts of Akwa Ibom State.
3. Oxygen plant at the general hospital Ikot Ekpene
4. Pediatrics block at University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, plus a donation of N50m
5. Utility vehicles for 159 doctors.

War Against Illiteracy: Uncommon Transformation in Education Sector
Of all the Uncommon Transformations of Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, the most fundamental which touches the lives of the most vulnerable group is the provision of free and compulsory education for all children of school age resident in Akwa Ibom State. This is a great investment in the lives of the future generation of Akwa Ibom  and a lasting legacy that posterity cannot forget. The effect will be far reaching and permanent. The obvious implication is that it means complete eradication of illiteracy and abject poverty. It also means mental development and psychological reorientation. It translates to building of self-worth and self-esteem. No more will the names Ekaette and Okon be synonymous with house-girl and house-boy; no longer will human traffickers look to Akwa Ibom State for the supply of their human merchandise, to be sold into modern slavery due to illiteracy and poverty. Governor Akpabio has, with one swift move, backed up with political will, redeemed and reinvented the image of the people of Akwa Ibom State, and changed their psyche for the better. Akpabio didn’t just make the free education policy on paper, he backed it up with muscles:

1 .The E-Library stands as testament to good reading culture
2. He has provided free text books
3. He pays WAEC, NECO and NABTEB registration fees for all candidates including those in Federal Government Colleges
4. Rehabilitated and constructed over six thousand(6000) school blocks for public schools
5. Construction of hostels
6. Supply of over ten thousand wooden double desks to primary and secondary schools in the State
7. Payment of grants to medical and law students of the State
8. Training and re-training of teachers, inspectors, education officers, principals, etc.

Uncommon Transformation in the Agric Sector
Akwa Ibom State is a major oil producing state, but this uncommon leader with uncommon vision refuses to yield to the temptation and mistake of depending solely on oil revenue allocation from the federal government purse. He sees the potential in Agriculture for diversification of the state revenue sources for economic growth through the supply of agro based raw materials for industry, creation of business and generation of employment.
Ibom Power Plant and Regular Electricity
Regular Power supply is another very fundamental infrastructure that makes for sustainable development while creating enabling environment for self employment. With regular electricity, small businesses can run profitably at very low costs. Using generators to run such small businesses as documentary services centres, hair dressing saloons, barbing shops, private sports viewing centres etc, proves to be very costly and unprofitable due to high cost of fuel for running the generators. As a result, many of such businesses do not survive for up to six months before they die out. But with the Uncommon Transformation Agenda of Governor Godswill Akpabio, 191 mega watts Ibom Power Plant has been completed and commissioned. In addition, he has linked over 1500 communities to the national grid. About 87% of Akwa Ibom State has electricity and he plans to achieve 100% coverage before leaving office in 2015.

Akwa Ibom State International Airport
Godswill Akpabio, the man with uncommon vision saw that a state without a world class airport cannot hope to boost tourism. So he went all out to ensure that tourism flourishes in Akwa Ibom State by building an International Airport. Major features of the Akwa Ibom State International Airport include:
1. 3.6km International standard runway
2. World class MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facilities, which will service Boeing 747-400 series jets
3. Airport Police Station
4. Certified aircraft rescue and fire fighting facilities
5. First class interim domestic terminal
6. Technical and Administrative Buildings
7. Health Clinic
21st Century State-of- the- Art Stadium With 30,000 Seating Capacity
This is the best modern stadium in Africa. Perhaps Akpabio is wooing FIFA to bring events to Akwa Ibom State. The stadium has a seating capacity of over 30,000 and ability to disperse over 35,000 people within five minutes. The VIP stand is bullet proof with more than 250 seating capacity. The stadium even has a banquet hall that can be used for seminars. This means that the stadium is designed to generate revenue all year round; and not only during sporting events. Other features of the stadium include:
1. Multi purpose layout with running tracks
2. 2-tier seating arrangement with excellent views
3. Arena with football pitch, 8-lane 400metre standard track, and other sports facilities in other segments of the field
4. International standard access and exit systems
5. Emergency routes allowing for evacuation time of about five minutes (thus complying with international safety requirements)
6. Equipped with three video boards under the roof.
William Shakespeare, 16th century playwright and social commentator of all times coined a metaphor that describes the Uncommon Transformation Agenda of Governor Akpabio: “A good wine needs no bush.” In old English society wine sellers displayed a bunch of leaves (bush) by their wine shops which served as advertisement. Shakespeare’s point of the metaphor was that a good wine advertised itself and did not need any displays of leaves. The works of Akpabio speak for themselves. It only takes a visit to the state for the uncommon transformation to hit you like a thunderbolt. Even if you have good personal reasons to dislike Akpabio as an individual, you cannot help but love the work of uncommon transformation he has achieved in Akwa Ibom State. It is no wonder that different persons from different backgrounds praise him to the high heavens. Respected religious leaders (Christians and Muslims, plus traditional religion practitioners) have eulogized Akpabio based on his uncommon transformation of Akwa Ibom State. His fellow politicians, serving and retired have acknowledged him as the man with the Midas touch for infrastructural development. He has not only invested in physical infrastructure, but he has also invested in mental and intellectual infrastructure. When he invested in building schools, he also invested in employing and training qualified teachers. He not only declared free education, he also put a law in place to enforce it so that it becomes a crime punishable by the law for any child of school age to be anywhere else but in school during school hours. To ensure that all pretenses for levying school children by school heads are removed, he pays logistics fees to school heads for every child in school. Akwa Ibom State has ceased to be the factory of house girls and houseboys. Even those who had entered into voluntary or forced slavery have been recalled home and government has graciously provided a home and family for those of them without any.  What else can a people ask of in a serving governor and how else can a serving governor show that truly, he is not playing politics with the future of his people?

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