UYO
Gov Udom Emmanuel’s achievements in industrialization, human capacity development and wealth creation have earned him more recognitions and commendations from within and outside the country, the latest being his nomination as The Subnation Governor with the Best Economic Blueprints in Africa.
The award will be presented during The African Regional Journal (TARJ) FORUM AND TRADE FAIR – LUANDA 2022 by the West African Regional Magazine November 18 and 19, 2022, at the InterContinental Hotel, Luanda, Angola.
Themed: The Significance of Unity-in-Diversity in the Integration of Africa, the event will take place side-by- side with this year’s listing of 100 inspiring individuals in Africa, with focus on promoting made in Africa products and connecting African businesses.
According to a statement by the organisers, “Governor Emmanuel’s visionary leadership, with a business-inclined disposition and private-sector approach to governance, are contributing factors to the transformation of Akwa Ibom into an enterprise state.
“This was captured in a blueprint that offered an amenable roadmap for achieving renaissance along the routes of job creation, wealth creation, poverty alleviation, infrastructural consolidation and expansion and ecopolitical inclusion.
A letter personally addressed to the governor by Amb Rossette Aliu Squire, maintained that, “Upon assumption of office, Your Excellency, you set up a remodeling committee to engender a social contract and a technical committee on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to promote, midwife and enhance the flow of investments into Akwa Ibom.
“The result is a horde of firms including the largest syringe manufacturing factory in Africa, electrical digital metering solutions manufacturing factory, rice mill, coconut oil processing plant and flour mill to mention a few.
“Added to the volley of strategic partnerships, the result is the emergence of hundreds of businesses, thousands of jobs with ripple and multiplier effects that phenomenally impact the livelihoods of Akwa Ibomites and Nigerians. You created a uniqueness of the investment environment of this enterprise state that allows for the evolution of capsuling in some very capital-intensive industries that have either comparative advantage, absolute advantage or technological advantage.
“Your excellent sense of judgement, business integrity earned from long term meritorious and untainted service in the corporate world as one of the defining figures, your ambidexterity as exemplified in the way you balanced autonomy and dependency and your intrapreneurship fervor are part of the vast “capital” and collateral that availed the needed investors’ confidence,” the statement reads in part.
The award’s organisers maintained that every part of the state has been uplifted under Emmanuel’s leadership, including the healthcare sector, infrastructural, education, and many more, adding that the state was indeed emerging into an aviation hub with a viable airline, and a modern smart terminal building almost completed.
“Ibom Air is the only one by any sub-national entity in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa and the airline since commencing operation has recorded tremendous success surpassing records in the number of passengers airlifted as well as on-time departure and arrival flights.
“Therefore, this special recognition as The Subnation Governor with the Best Economic Blueprint in Africa, is well-deserved,” the organizers averred.
It would be recalled that the governor had been listed last year, amongst 100 Inspiring Individuals in Africa in the 2021 Edition of the fair, in Radisson Blu Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda.
Meanwhile, another special award for the Most Progressive Sub-nation in Africa, is to be awarded to Akwa Ibom, for outstanding growth and development recorded in the last few years.
“In 2017, the Q3 report of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country’s apex institution for socioeconomic and development statistics, declared Akwa Ibom as the second best in attracting Foreign Direct Investment into Nigeria,” the statement read.
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