Global leadership strategist and CEO of The Discovery Centre, Mfon Ekpo, delivered a keynote address of uncommon moral force at the Golden Initiative For All (GIFA) 2nd Anniversary Celebration, culminating in a standing ovation and an immediate civic response. Attendees made firm pledges to fund community boreholes across the state; advancing the late First Lady’s long-standing vision of access to clean water.
The address, delivered in honour of GIFA’s Founder, the late First Lady Pastor Mrs Patience Umo Eno, and attended by state leadership, development stakeholders, community leaders, and citizens, moved beyond ceremony into a collective awakening; reframing history, restoring dignity, and calling citizens into active partnership in development.
Established in December 2022, GIFA was founded by the late First Lady Pastor Mrs Patience Umo Eno as a people-centred social intervention platform to strengthen families and uplift communities. The initiative complements government development priorities through programmes focused on environmental health, women’s economic empowerment, literacy development, sanitation, maternal and child health, and care for the elderly.
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The 2nd anniversary commemorates both the initiative’s impact and the enduring legacy of its founder. GIFA is currently coordinated by the First Lady Designate, Her Excellency, Lady Helen Eno Obareki, who continues to steward its mission of compassionate, community-driven development.
Restoring Memory, Reclaiming Identity
In one of the most resonant moments of the day, Ekpo addressed derogatory stereotypes historically directed at Akwa Ibom people, reframing them through the lens of trust, stewardship, and social capital.
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She explained that figures once mocked as “Okon” and “Ekaette” represented something far deeper:
● guardians trusted with families and homes
● custodians of vulnerability
● architects of relational trust long before hospitality became an industry
“You saw labour,” she declared.
“History recognises relational infrastructure.”
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Her words repositioned dignity not as something granted, but as something long embodied.
Unity as Evidence, Not Rhetoric
Rejecting the “crab in a basket” stereotype, Ekpo offered personal testimony of communal uplift; mentors, civil servants, leaders, and institutions that opened doors, wrote recommendations, paid bursaries, and invested in the future of their people.
She framed Akwa Ibom’s progress as collective rather than individual; an ecosystem of support that produces excellence.
“I am not an exception,” she stated.
“I am a product.”
From Speech to Action: Completing a Legacy
Honouring the late First Lady’s vision, Ekpo called for the completion of boreholes across communities, emphasising that clean water is not a luxury but a necessity affecting health, education, and dignity.
She led by example, pledging to fund a borehole personally.
What followed was immediate and unscripted: attendees pledged resources toward additional boreholes, transforming the moment from rhetoric to civic action and reinforcing a shared commitment to community wellbeing.
The “Five Naira” Moment
In a deeply symbolic closing, Ekpo recounted offering her father five naira as a child after thieves robbed their home; not to fund recovery, but to affirm solidarity.
She described such contributions as citizen capital; evidence that development is strongest when people participate.
“We are not spectators in development,” she said.
“We are stakeholders. We carry with. And when we carry together, we rise together.”
A Defining Moment
The keynote marked a defining milestone in GIFA’s evolving legacy and reinforced a shared vision for sustainable impact rooted in unity, dignity, and disciplined execution.
As GIFA enters its next chapter, the message is unmistakable:
Leadership provides direction.
Citizens provide momentum.
Together, they build history.
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