Hon. Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo, Celebrating 1year in Office

Hurray! It’s Hon. (Obong) Emmanuel Ukpong-udo’s first anniversary as Member representing Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly, Abuja.

The fact that in just one year, Obong Emmanuel Ukpong-udo popularly known as Macaire, thanks to his impressive outing has been able to cause those who had hitherto labelled ‘Ikono/Ini as a politically cursed constituency’ (no thanks to the years of abysmal and self-serving representation handed the people by successive representatives between 1999-2019) to reverse their position, calls for celebration.

Ever since, Obong Ukpong-udo was sworn into office as the representative and mouthpiece of Ikono/Ini in the House of Representatives, he has continued to dazzle and amaze his constituents with his performance – bringing democratic dividends to them.

The template he dispenses these dividends of democracy focuses on five key areas namely: Social Welfare, Jobs and Employment, Students’ Support, Infrastructural Development and Human Capital Development.

To summarise what the lawmaker seeks to achieve in the areas mention in very clear terms, it is safe to conclude that for Obong Emmanuel Ukpong-udo, his sole agenda for Ikono/Ini people is empowerment, empowerment and empowerment. You can extrapolate that to suit all the items listed on the template.

And you can’t blame him because that is what the Ikono-born philanthropist has been doing all his life long before he even joined politics. Even the worst sadist would agree that this is his area of greatest strength.

Coming to the specifics, in terms of Human Capital Development (solely targeted at creating wealth and promoting entrepreneurship among the people, Obong Ukpong-udo has broken the glass ceiling in the annals of representation in the constituency.

So far, out of the N100m set aside for this project under the Macaire Enterprise Development Scheme, 40% of the said fund has been disbursed to VERIFIABLE beneficiaries. All this happened in just one year.

Talking about creating jobs and employment, aside from facilitating employment to suitably qualified Ikono/Ini sons and daughters, in government establishments and other sectors, the lawmaker’s “Macaire ‘I-Earn-You-Earn Scheme’” also creates job for dozens of Ikono/Ini people. Recall, Obong Ukpong-udo less than 24hours after his swearing-in a year ago, made headlines for appointing a whooping 58 personal aides to work with him.

Health wise, the Lawmaker’s “Macaire Mother and Child Care Programme” a programme for expectant mothers targeted at combating infant mortally is believed to gulp N1million monthly. A lot of people have benefited from this scheme and can testify to it.

Even the students are not left out in Macaire’s empowerment mix. The Macaire Students’ Support Programme affords bright and indigent students from the area access to scholarship and other educational aid. If you ask me, Ikono has never had it this good! Tell me about any, if I’m too young to tell the history.

Even at this, it most heartwarming to note that lawmaker seems not done with empowering his people as he keeps floating new entrepreneurial schemes every now and then. A perfect reference is the U-Martha Ambassadors Programme that the lawmaker hinted in his anniversary speech that N4million has been budgeted for it monthly. The fund would take care of sponsoring youths to acquire entrepreneurship skills. Stay close to his official handles @macaireofficial on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Who knows, you too can be a lucky beneficiary.

With all these empowerment programmes rolled out by the lawmaker in just one year, I dare say that he has outperformed all his predecessors in office combined in the area of facilitating viable economic empowerment to his people. I challenge, his predecessors or anyone who may want to dispute this position to come out with their verifiable score card. Facts are sacred.

However, my sincere prayer is that this tempo be maintained or better still, surpassed.

Meanwhile, before signing off, may I on this euphoric note, call on our Most Valuable MP, as the highest political office holder in the area to use his large heart to unite Ikono as one indivisible entity for the greater good of the people.

Just as I drew the attention of the member representing Ikono State Constituency in the State House of Assembly to the protracted crises ravaging Obio Ediene in Ikono LGA, may I also call on our Federal Member to collaborate and bring lasting peace to the area. I learned the contending parties in the village headship tussle are faithful (stakeholders) of the PDP, therefore, addressing it should not be an issue because we can’t afford to continue watching while our people fight and kill themselves.

Once again, Congratulations, the People’s MP, Hon. (Obong) Emmanuel Ukpong-udo aka Macaire. Keep making us proud.

Augustine Akpan