By Emeka Samuel,Uyo
Atleast 208,435 households has so far benefited from free food vouchers under an initiative undertaken by Akwa Ibom state government to alleviate hardship for vulnerable families mostly impacted by rising cost of essential commodities.
This is even as Governor Umo Eno has pledged to
increase the tempo of good governace in the coming years of his administration.
Eno who made this known in his one year anniversary broadcast also said 400 units of two bedroom flats would also be constructed for the poorest of the poor before the end of his first tenure.
“Through our Arise Free Food Voucher/ Security program under the Bulk Purchase Agency, we have intervened in the food supply chain to stabilize the food and improve the access of the poor and vulnerable groups to basic food items. To date, 208,435 households have benefited from this initiative. We also contributed over five billion Naira to augment the palliatives rolled out by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.
“We have embarked on the construction of modern two-bedroom houses under our Arise Compassionate Homes scheme for the poorest and the neediest, thirty-six of which have now been completed, and the first was handed over last week in Ibiono Ibom to the beneficiary, we hope to construct 400 units before the end of our First Term in Office.
“We have completed 236 two-bedroom units named “Grace Estate”, and I have just approved the balance of 264 bringing the total number to be constructed with the same facility to 500. 150 of these units are to be given free to civil servants from grade levels 1-8 through raffle draw
“We have commenced the payment of fifty thousand Naira monthly to our elders in all the 369 wards in the State, through our Arise Initiative for the Elderly, adopted from the pet project The Renewed Hope Initiative of Her Excellency, the First Lady of Nigeria, Distinguished Senator Oluremi Tinubu CON.
“We have paid 18.2 billion Naira in gratuities to the retired State, civil servants, retired primary school teachers and retired local government workers as well as our conscious efforts to lift people from poverty through our AK-Cares initiative.
“We have given 500 thousand grant to each of the beneficiaries of Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme of the Ibom Leadership and Entrepreneurial Center- IBOM LED as well as the 100 Million Naira Educational Grant for students living with disabilities in tertiary institutions as well as the payment of bursary of 12,839 to students in 223 Public Tertiary Institutions.” The Governor said.
He disclosed that ARISE agenda, the flagship programme of his administration has created 4,000 jobs through the implementation of it’s key strategies.
“It is pertinent to mention that, apart from being the flagship program of our administration, the ARISE Agenda represents my Social Contract with all Akwaibomites. We are totally committed to implementing this Agenda as it is poised to create life-long opportunities in our state economy and improve the living conditions of our people.
“Government cannot do this alone. That’s why we’re leveraging on existing partnerships with the private sector and forging new collaborations with a broad range of stakeholders to achieve our eight lofty goals. We remain unequivocally committed to creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. We have attracted investments with massive income and employment potentials.
“So far we’ve been intentional about creating jobs. For instance, approximately 4000 persons were employed in the projects we’ve implemented across sectors in the last one year. We will continue to partner with the private sector to create decent jobs for our people because we recognize that job creation is an imperative for poverty reduction.” He explained.
