Akwa Ibom State government and the London Borough of Southwark Mayor, Michael Situ, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a mutually beneficial partnership in various areas including education, culture, tourism, sports and others, LEADERSHIP learnt at the weekend.
The planned exchange programme between students of the state origin and their UK counterparts was sealed when Situ, paid a courtesy visit on Governor Umo Eno, at the Government House, Uyo, the state capital.
It was gathered the visit by the delegation became necessary “to finalize arrangements for the exchange programmes and other mutually beneficial ventures in areas of education, business, sports and tourism.”
Welcoming the mayor and his entourage to the state, Governor Eno described Situ’s visit as a demonstration of integrity and commitment to the exchange deal, and reaffirmed the commitment of the state government to fulfilling its own side of the partnership obligations with utmost transparency.
Explaining his intent in initiating the exchange ties, Governor Eno said the programme aimed at “giving an oversea exposure to some bright, but not-so-privileged Akwa Ibom children and encourage them to believe in hard work.”
He commended the commissioner for information, Comrade Ini Ememobong, for his effort in bringing the vision to fruition.
“For my child, grandchildren or the child of anyone in this room to fly to London is no news, the news is that brilliant child in a public school in the village who didn’t even think of or have hope of going to the airport, being made to sit on a 6-7 hours flight to arrive the UK and you tell him this’ just the beginning, if you take your education more seriously, it can take you to any part of the world and you can sit on the table with anyone.
“That’s the catch for me. If I can get one Akwa Ibom child motivated with that, I would have succeeded, so I take this as a project,” he explained.
Justifying funding for the programme amidst the scorching economic indices, the governor said though the cost may be high due to unfavourable exchange rates, the human capital development investment for the state and the benefits for Akwa Ibom children outweighs the cost.
He, therefore, directed the information boss and facilitator of the programme, Comrade Ini Emembong, to facilitate interactions between the commissioner for education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet, heads of schools, local government councils and other stakeholders with the Southwark delegation to fine-tune processes towards a smooth take off of the programme.
The governor therefore proposed a forum of Akwa Ibom-Southwark business community to help explore opportunities for investments between the two entities, assuring of his administration’s commitment to maintain the state’s prestige in sports and tourism as having the only FIFA certified stadium in Nigeria, to encourage partnership in sports.
Earlier, Michael Situ lauded the ingenuity of the government and people of Akwa Ibom State for not only indicating interest to partner his government for exchange programmes but taking steps at a very impressive pace to concretize the partnership, describing Governor Umo Eno’s leadership as service oriented.
He said, “When we all think of ourselves as being here for service, the job of governance becomes very simple in the sense that your focal point becomes what will really benefit the people and how to address their issues and concerns.”
Mayor Situ said schools in the London Borough of Southwark that have been scheduled for the exchange programme were already excited about it and expressed optimism that the people of Southwark, especially those of African descent will be excited to also have opportunity to visit Akwa Ibom for interactions in culture, sports and other areas of interest, given the infrastructure and ambience of the state.
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