This was contained in a statement issued by the Nigerian Chapter of the Group, dated Saturday July 1, 2023, signed by its Country Focal Person, Amb Paul Philip Iwok, and made available to journalists in Lagos, Nigeria.
According to the group, the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the President of the nation’s 10th National Assembly is the best thing that has ever happened in the anal of the Nigeria’s National Assembly right from independence till date.
‘We make bold to say this because as a responsible and responsive organization, we are aware that leadership is everything, everything rise and falls on leadership just as no society or nation will rise above its leaders. ‘luckily for the nation, Senator Akpabio is capped with excellent public leadership acumen needed to navigate the nation out of its current political and socio-economic woods’.
Giving further insight as to why the Group threw its weight behind Akpabio, Amb Iwok stressed that as a two term Governor of Akwa Ibom state, His Excellency, Senator Akpabio brought to the state a democratized infrastructural development that glaringly qualified as world class, sustainable and enduring.
He also stated that as the Minister of the Niger Delta Ministry, Akpabio demonstrated that he possessed full grasp of public leadership demands. He sanitized the Ministry, brought transparency and enthroned accountability. The statement argued that under his leadership, the Federal Government for the first time ordered through his ministry, a forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a commission under his ministry’’
Iwok, who hails from Nto-Otong in Abak, Akwa-Ibom State, also narrated how Akpabio led state government vigorously campaigned against, and stamped out the age long ‘House Boy Syndrome” a social scourge that propels teenagers and the youths from the state to embrace domestic servitude as a career against the pursuit of education and marketable skills.
Speaking experientially further, Amb Iwok, a Certified Youth Developmental Ecologist and Author of the book’ The journey of a House Boy To Significance’, attested that he was among the thousands of Akwa Ibomites that benefited from Akpabio’s unparalleled human capital development in the state.
In his words, I benefited hugely from Akpabio’s human capital development road map in Akwa Ibom State which enabled me to work as a Child and Youth Development Consultant. He sent me and other notable Akwa Ibomites to the United States based Institute. The wealth of knowledge derived from that training ‘revolutionized’ our lives. Personally, I must say that my life has never remained the same after that training. Today, I have a vocation to be proud of anywhere I step my feet.
While the release boasted that Akpabio led Senate will replicate similar feats at the national levels, the Group insisted that the 10th National Assembly under Akpabio’s leadership will definitely incubate, nurture and bring to fruition bills that will promote economic well being of Nigerians, usher in massive infrastructural and human capital development as well ensures security of lives and property of Nigerians.
