Akwa Ibom Governor Umo Eno says the State Executive Council retreat is meant to set new boundaries for his administration to work relentlessly to actualise the vision of economic growth and well-being, peace and prosperity for the people of the state.
Declaring open the retreat at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island – Lagos State, Governor Eno said the retreat is also expected to distill the culture of deliverables and deepen respect for greater performance among the various actors in the system.
According to him, the participants would be fully reinvigorated, equipped, refreshed and challenged for the tasks ahead.
“We have assembled a great team of speakers drawn from diverse backgrounds and I know we are going to have a great and exciting time.
“Even though this is essentially an EXCO Retreat, we have, however, brought in all our Delivery Team, members and stakeholders to reinforce our commitment in ensuring timely delivery of our projects.
“We were here, last in 2023, shortly after our inauguration, where we had distilled the foundational principles of the Arise Agenda with the then EXCO members.
“It’s good to note that a number of the members of the last EXCO have been reappointed and thus are deeply conversant with our culture of deliverables,” he said.
He reminded the new Executive Council members, that “the fact that you are here, means you completely understand our propelling impulse which essentially is that we are running against time.”
Eno also reminded them that Akwa Ibom people would not tolerate excuses, hence his decision to appoint a renowned technocrat as his Chief Delivery Advisor and Executive Assistant.
The Governor said time was of essence, “given the number of very audacious projects, to be determined, execute and complete within the next two years of our first term.”
Emphasizing the need for teamwork and unity, Governor Eno maintained that if he were to suggest a theme for the retreat, it would be “Teaming for Greater Success,” and sought synergy, collaboration, loyalty and commitment to recording results.
On his Arise agenda, Eno noted that it has been articulated and translated into implementable layers and maintained that having “taken acute and deep ownership of the vision,” the exco members are the agents to relentlessly drive the vision to completion.
The Governor used the forum to again clarify that the State Delivery Advisors have their responsibilities clearly spelt out, which is to supervise some of the major projects billed for completion in the next 24 months.
“They have the institutional memory and knowledge of these projects, and we have simply asked them to complete what they had started and deliver them to specifications and on time.
“The Honourable Commissioners have new projects that we are initiating and are expected to follow-through on those projects to completion,” he said.
The Governor thanked the resource persons, particularly, Tony Blair Institute, for accepting to share their knowledge and expertise.
The retreat, expected to last four days, had on the first day Tuulia Pitkanem, a Senior Adviser in the Tony Blair Institute, and a former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Finland, who spoke on ways of translating the Governor’s address into Policy Interventions.
Other speakers were Mr. Emem Bob who spoke on ”Budget Presentation and Fiscal Outlook” as well as ”Government Communication and Reputation Management” by Mr. Aniekan Umanah.
