The Akwa Ibom State Government on Wednesday published names of 2,167 groups which it said have benefited from the disbursement of over N2.4billion “empowerment” fund in the past two years of Governor Umo Eno’s administration.
The publication on Facebook by the state’s Ministry of Information contained names of the groups, the population of beneficiary members of the groups, and the amount of money. It said the disbursed money is part of the more than N10billion of the empowerment grants disbursed by the administration within two years.
|
|
“This stand as a clear evidence of Governor Umo Eno’s commitment to citizen’s empowerment and sustainable livelihoods for farmers, traders, artisans and entrepreneurs across the state,” the publication stated.
According to the government, the fund was accessed through the online portal of the Umo Eno Support Group.
|
|
|
|---|
From the publication, different groups, including some political, students, traders, and religious groups, benefited from the fund.
For instance, 533 members of the Peoples Democratic Movement received N26.6 million, 146 members of the Young Voter’s Association of Nigeria received N7.3million, 17 members of the Garri Traders Association received N850,000, 16 members of the Akwa Ibom Traders Network received N800,000, while 13 members of the National Association of Uruan Students Worldwide received N650,000 and 15 members of the National Association of Political Science, Akwa Ibom State Chapter, received N750,000, according to the publication.
Others are 48 members of the Ibom Entertainers Forum, N2.4million, 85 members of the Akwa Ibom Trader’s Welfare Association, N40.2million, 11 members of the Akpan Andem Market Women Association, N6.4million, two members of the Christian Redemption Movement, N1million, two members of the Christian Community Partners, N1million, and one member of the Daughter of Zion, N500,000.
Immediately the government published the list, there was confusion and anxiety within the Akwa Ibom community on Facebook as many scrambled to ask questions about who really got what amount and how.
“Akwa Ibom government has empowered sundry members in the respective groups; it does not mean it has dashed the entire group or its leaders money,” an aide to Governor Eno, Essien Ndueso, explained in a Facebook post.
Mr Ndueso did some more explaining in another post: “As a group leader, note that the government will not give you bulk money for your members. Your members are randomly chosen from the portal.”
Background
Many see the publication as Governor Eno’s response to the people who keep complaining that his administration has not done much to fight poverty and hunger in the oil-rich state.
“Support groups go to the portal, we are going to publish the names of all the registered groups and the number of people that have benefited from our grants, but I will not come and say female youths, Purple, take N20million, female youths, Lemon, take N50million. I won’t do that,” Mr Eno said recently to a crowd in a campaign-style rally.
“What I am saying is that go to the portal. When you are qualified, they will pay you. As they pay you, it will reflect in your group. So, when your leader comes and says, ‘Eh, they have used us, they have dumped us!’ We are going to publish the list soon, so that you’ll see the female youths, Purple, how many of their members have benefited from the government programmes.
“And if you want to further interrogate it, you’ll see the names, you’ll see their (bank) account numbers. And if you still want to interrogate further, you’ll see the banks.
“Let us, for once, run a government for the people by the people and of the people, which is democracy. Let us do it, so that people who have nobody can become somebody. All of us in Akwa Ibom, we are special.”
At the rally, the governor called out unnamed elders, who he said were not being truthful to the public about the financial help they were getting from the administration.
“Don’t let anybody deceive you. Our elders that have been receiving things (money from the government), they don’t tell the people that they are getting things. They keep spoiling the government, telling people that they are not getting anything from the government. Someday, I will also publish what the elders are getting from the government,” he said.
Discover more from Premium Times Nigeria
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
