The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno has revealed how a WhatsApp message someone showed him while in a church service compelled him to repair Atiku Abubakar Way.
The governor revealed this at the inauguration of flood control and road projects at Atiku Abubakar Way in Uyo. He said he was ready to continue depending on constructive engagements with the people to administer governance to the people.
The projects included the construction of a 1.3KM, 8 meters deep 2X2X0.3M Underground Flood Control Tunnel along Atiku Abubakar Way, reconstruction of a section of Atiku Abubakar Way with Street Light, and reconstruction of Afaha Ube Street, Uyo.
At the event which had former President Goodluck Jonathan’s special guest, Governor Eno revealed that, “the projects we are gathered here to commission is a product of fate and circumstance.
He said: “Someone sent me a picture during one of the events we had in church, it was a picture of this road on a rainy day fully flooded.
“So I showed it to the deputy governor. The road was completely impassable. And I told the deputy governor that we must visit this place immediately from the church programme.
“What this shows is that all of us can collectively run this state. The money is not my money but belongs to all of us.
“Anything you see that you believe government should intervene, you should bring it to our table. You can draw our attention to such issues and we will work with you.
“We try to run an open government, one across party lines because knowledge is not based on one person or in one party. We can do it together. Together one of us can be in government. But please, as government fixes these things, do not destroy them.
“Do not vandalize projects that government has spent a lot of money to build. It is not my money, it is our collective money. And so if you destroy government property, know that it is part of your money that you are destroying.”
Inaugurating the project, former President Goodluck Jonathan, expressed satisfaction with the developments witnessed under Pastor Eno’s tenure in less than a year.
He said that from the caliber of people in his team and the nature of projects he has embarked upon, the Akwa Ibom Governor is performing well.
“Nobody expects you to conduct a major project and complete it in hundred days.
“But if you see somebody who has focus, in the first hundred days, the caliber of people he recruits to work with him will show in their credibility, people knowledgeable enough to drive the departments of government.
“Looking at this project, you’ll see how the road has been transformed from a once flooding area to what we all witness today. In a world where flooding through global warming is affecting places like Dubai that is in the desert, this project reflects a governor that has focus.
“This project that we are commissioning today is a very critical one and it shows a focused leadership and we must commend the governor and his team.
“I am happy that he said that the state money is not his money. I know of a governor who whenever he talks about the state money he refers to it as his money. He appropriates the state money to be his money but Eno calls it everyone’s money.
“I want to say if you see somebody trying to vandalize the state or federal government’s infrastructure around you, you must report the person because it is your money that was used in doing that project”, Jonathan said.