AKSG To Provide 50,000 Households With Solar Panels

… Proposes Recycling Of Waste To Wealth
By Bassey Nkponam
UYO
As part of efforts to ameliorate the suffering occasioned by interrupted power supply in the State, and indeed, the country, Akwa Ibom government is providing 50,000 households with solar panels.
The State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, who announced this during the 3rd anniversary press briefing hosted by the State government at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Uyo, recently, said, currently, government was in the pricing process, and will in no distant time kickstart the process.
Eno said, in the initiative, state and local governments will subsidise for beneficiaries, while beneficiaries will pay little to support the initiative.
Reacting to the issue of waste management in the State, handled by the Akwa Ibom State  Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA), which was raised at the briefing, the governor proposed turning waste to wealth through the recycling of waste which, he noted, will be done in a manner that government will purchase waste from individual households in kilos and recycle it into various products.
According to him, the waste so generated by households, could be used to generate power, adding that it was high time, “we start making this waste to become wealth”.
On road construction, Eno noted that his administration was fixing 1,300km economically viable roads since assumption of office, stressing that “no government can fix all the roads in the State, because when others are done, some are coming up, but we are doing viable roads”.
He frowned at situations where contractors do not deliver roads which contracts were signed years ago alongside others that have been completed, emphasizing that if such roads were not completed by July, contracts for the roads will be re-awarded, urging contractors concerned to ensure delivery of the roads before July 2026.
The governor assured that the abandoned Ikot Akpan Abia-Enen Nsit Road would be fixed and directed the commissioner for works and fire service, Professor Eno Ibanga, to swing into action by ensuring that the road is awarded.
He announced plans to constitute a pothole committee to go round the state to identify locations of potholes, with the media and civil society organisation, particularly, CRAN, as members.
Eno frowned at media attacks by sections of Akwa Ibom people, urging the people, including the media, to be patriotic, rather than de-marketing the State.
The governor, who acknowledged the importance of the media in State development and governance, solicited partnership with the NUJ in the State, saying, as members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, it behooves on journalists to be committed to the affairs of government by showcasing his administration’s achievement and effort to the public, and by so doing, enabling the public to be properly informed.
Setting the tone for the event, the chief press secretary to the governor, Mr Ekerette Udoh, welcomed members to the event, noting that it was an unfinished truth that since the assumption of Pastor Umo Eno, as governor, he has ticked all the boxes he made during his campaigns.
Udoh maintained that in all the five layers and 17 focal areas of the ARISE Agenda, Eno has done so well, expressing hope that as purveyors of the state’s exceptionalism, the media will publicise Eno’s achievements perfectly.
Commissioner for information, Dr Aniekan Umanah, who gave a brief sectoral achievements of the governor, noted that in the last three years, Eno has performed creditably well in all the sectors with the ARISE Agenda as the compass of his administration.
Throwing light on the issue of the Science Park, the commissioner for Science and Digital Economy, Dr Frank Ekpenyong, said the Science Park was established many years ago to serve the purpose of encouraging youths to work together, provide assess to internet, which at that time was unaffordable and cost-oriented, explaining that the current administration of Pastor Umo Eno, prefers to decentralise locations where such goals could be easily achieved, instead of going to a centralised location, hence the decision to establish youth development centres across the 31 local government areas of Akwa Ibom.
According to him, Governor Eno was not abandoning the Science Park as speculated but was decentralising the project for easy access, after all he has used his finisher’s anointing to complete most of the projects that were not completed by past administrations in the State.
Ekpenyong acknowledged that the Science Park was a novel idea at the time it was established, but the system has changed, as connection centres were being created for accessibility.
“Today, connectivity is not where you gather people together because people have their smart phones and can afford data.
   “Today, the governor said there was need to provide services that were to be provided by the Science Park in several locations that is easily accessible and providing skills.
   “The governor is not abandoning the Science Park, after all, he has used his finisher’s anointing to complete most of the projects that were not completed by his predecessors”, he said.
Ekpenyong announced that from June 22, training on ICT for youths will commence at the recently inaugurated Youth Development Centre in Oron.
   He said N700 million has been committed by the current administration to trainees at the Dakkada Skills Acquisition Centre (DASAC), with N1 million provided each beneficiary for logistics, including feeding.
The chairman, Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA), Prince Ikim, said Akwa Ibom has never had it so good when it comes to waste management in the State, recalling that before Eno assumed office, the agency received N122 million for sweeping, vegetation control, desilting, and waste evacuation, but upon coming into office, he increased the funding to N250 million, thanking the governor for the gesture.