150 civil servants in Akwa Ibom emerge proud owners of 2-bed room flats courtesy of Gov. Eno,By Dennis Udoma, Uyo
By Dennis Udoma, Uyo
Not fewer than 150 junior civil servants in Akwa Ibom State Civil Service yesterday, won a two bed-room flat housing bonanza, through a raffle draw floated by the State Governor, Pst. Umo Eno.
The housing scheme for workers from Grade Level 01 to 08, situates at the newly established Grace Estate in Uyo, is in fulfilment of the governor’s campaign promises to the workers of the State workforce.
Speaking shortly after the raffle draw held at Fairmore Event Centre, in the metropolis, Governor Eno reiterated his administration to keep to his campaign promises of addressing the basic needs of the people.
He also explained that, the 400 Compassionate Homes to be built across the political wards in the 31 local government areas for the vulnerable, and the Grace Estate project designed for civil servants of level O1 to O8 are testaments of his resolve to provide shelter for the people, especially those in the lower class of the society.
The Governor, who identified food, shelter and health as basic needs of life said, his administration has scored high in the provision of these needs for the betterment of the people.
“Apart from the 150 houses that we have given out today, we are building about 400 compassionate homes across the state; in every ward and every local government. We know that we need to support our people.
“The greatest need of our people right now is food, shelter and healthcare, and we believe that we are scoring good points in these areas.
“When you look at the spread, you will see that we have scored very good points in each of these programmes that we have set up for ourselves”, Gov. Eno stated.
He commended the Head of Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien and the Senior Special Assistant on ICT, Dr Frank Ekpenyong, for being painstaking in undertaking the task and ensuring optimum transparency and success in the selection process.
Eno, also appreciated the stakeholders and the people for their support to the administration and, the critics for pointing out areas of attention to give the administration a sense of direction.
“We thank you for your support in the Civil Service, we thank all of our critical stakeholders, we thank all our friends and we thank all our enemies and critics because they have helped us stay in check,” he added.
Earlier, Head of Civil Service and Chairman Housing Allocation Committee, Elder Effiong Essien , described housing as one of the basic necessities of life but, regretted the inability of the civil servants to acquire houses of their own.
He appreciated the Governor for breaking the jinx of addressing inadequate accommodation challenges for civil servants of grade level 01 to 08 through, the Grace Estate initiative with a token of fifty thousand naira for expression of interest in the raffle draw.
Elder Essien noted that 554 workers in the junior category obtained the ticket and entered for the draw, and 150 of them emerged house owners through a transparent process.
The HoS however, thanked the Governor for his worker-friendly disposition having initiated the Health Insurance Scheme for the workers and has complimented the gesture with the Grace Housing project, which addresses the housing need of the workers.
He congratulated the winners of the draw for their successes and urged them to see the gesture as motivation to work harder for the state and, assured the Governor of the workers commitment to the realization of the ARISE Agenda in their respective capacities.
A beneficiary, Victor Ernest Effiong, Grade Level 03 and Staff of the Office of the Deputy Governor, expressed delight for being a proud house owner, describing his new status as a dream come true.
Those who also expressed their gratitude to the governor were; Miss Comfort Michael of the State Ministry of Information, Clement Moses Bassey, Christopher Emem Ekpenyong, Udo Ofonime Elijah among others who emerged winners of the raffle draw for the Grace Estate housing bonanza.
