By Juliet Vincent Sept 11.2024
Dennis Udoma, Uyo
Akwa Ibom state Governor, Umo Eno yesterday, rewarded youths with N310 million cash for boycotting the ill timed #EndBadGovernance protest in August this year.
The Governor before the #EndBadGovernance in Uyo, had earlier in a meeting with the youths had promised to appreciate them, if they stay away from the nationwide protest held from 1st to 10th August across the country.
The appeal by the governor resulted in loud apathy to the protest which ended in Akwa Ibom within just two days as few youths who dared to come out were also overwhelmed by intimidation from a joint security team coordinated by the Police Command in the state.
At a thank you meeting on Tuesday, to fulfill his promise Governor Eno announced a reward of “N10 Million per Local Government Area (LGA)” as reward for youths across the state for obedience to his appeal to shun the protest.
According to him, “the leadership of the youths in each of the Local Governments will receive the money and spread it, across party lines” adding that, the gesture was a promise he had to keep in appreciation of youths of the state.
“We can’t leave you the way we met you. We are inspired that you listened to our plea not to join the protest, not because we don’t believe in protest or don’t feel what is going on in the country.
“We know there are always people that will hijack the most peaceful protest to destroy and vent anger on government facilities. Our leaders have worked so hard in the past 37 years of the creation of our state to put these infrastructure in place, and one minute of anger can destroy all of these hard works.
“We are not ashamed you did well and we are here to give you a pat on the back. Though you didn’t protest, we heard you loud and clear. We know the issues you’re angry about.
“We know those things that should be addressed. Issues of hunger, of unemployment, pains and high price of food. We try within the resources available in our state to address them to the benefit of our people.”
Governor Eno further approved, additional 100 youths per Local Government Area to be added to the Ibom Community Watch, a state government owned local vigilante across political party lines.
Governor advised the youths, “One thing you must know our big men is that, when they meet at they club, when they share the money, they don’t know political party. So, no discrimination.
“Students bursary raised from N10,000 to N20,000 for undergraduates and N20,000 to N30,000 for those pursuing professional courses and post graduate studies.
“Ministry of Labour working with my Senior Special Assistant on ICT to open an employment portal for youths in Akwa Ibom. When you register, it will automatical sort your area of specialisation. When we want to recruit even for government, we will just go into the portal to filter the qualifications we want.
“We will engage with oil companies in Akwa Ibom to harvest applicant for interview. We don’t want crowd of people to stand on interview queues and kill selves looking for employment. Let’s have a digital platform where we have your qualifications and call for employment.
“We will on monthly bases support 5000 youths every month with N50,000 business grant from this portal to start small businesses as individuals or groups pulling their resources together to start a farm, because we don’t want you to just stay idle waiting for employment. There is no way you get this money twice.”
The youths appreciated the governor and urged him to complete the abandoned Ibom Science Park project initiated by former Governor Victor Attah, as a means of fast tracking technological development of the state.
