Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Umo Eno, has reassured the citizens that he would not derail from delivering his campaign promises as captured in the ARISE Agenda being the flagship for the development of the state, by his government.

He said: “I was elected as the governor of this state, and we have citizens who did not vote for me, because they belong to other parties.

“I put my hands on the Bible and swore an oath to serve you all, and I will continue to do so as long as I am on this seat.”

Governor Eno gave the reassurance in a broadcast last Saturday to mark the 36th anniversary of the creation of Akwa Ibom State.

He called on the people to sheath their political swords and work together to advance the growth of the state and the country.

According to him, “So far, we have worked across party lines to advance the development of our state, since politics must give way to governance.

“To ensure that we continue to enjoy the peace we are known for, we have created a full-fledged new ministry-the Ministry of Internal Security and Waterways- headed by a retired General of the Nigerian Army, Koko Essien.

“Our security architecture is robust and remains committed to working collaboratively to ensure our safety. We thank the security agencies immensely for this deep sense of collaborations.

“I am unapologetically committed to prioritising Agricultural Revolution, Tourism Development, Environmental Management, Rural Development, Women and Youth Empowerment, Infrastructural Maintenance, Security, Education, Health Management, Economic, Industrial and Social Advancement.

“Once we improve the quality of life of our rural dwellers, embark upon the One Local Government One Project (OLOP,) create neighborhood watchers to provide both employment to our youths in the state and to maintain the peace and security we have been enjoying, improve primary healthcare service delivery, establish model primary schools, and link the over 2, 272 gazetted villages with electricity, we would be right on track with our rural development agenda.

“To ignite our agricultural revolution in line with our ARISE Agenda, we have acquired over 50 hectares of land in each of the 31 LGAs to ensure food security and to get our people to be involved in agro-allied enterprises.

“We recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the world renowned Songhai Farms to start a model farm in our state, and have already sent dozens of our people for training so that they could form the nucleus of the skilled workers to drive this exercise.

“A little over two weeks ago, I led a delegation of some members of the Exco on a working tour of the farm in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, and it was quite a revealing experience. We are on the cusp of truly igniting agricultural revolution and food security in line with our Arise Agenda.”

Governor Eno, who boasted of what he has done across all the sectors within the few months in office, said the state “will be one gigantic land of very hardworking, self -sufficient and happy people rising in one accord to fulfill the dreams of our founding fathers and God’s plans for us all.”