A.R.I.S.E. AGENDA: GOV ENO ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SET UP BUSINESS SCHOOL, REITERATES COMMITMENT TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

By The Evangelist News Edition, Monday July 3, 2023. Admin.

A Business School to train and develop budding entrepreneurs is in the offing in Akwa Ibom State.

This is to enable entrepreneurs excel in their small and medium scale enterprises in line with the A.R.I.S.E. Agenda vision of the present administration.

The State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, announced this when he addressed the Congregation at All Nations Christian Ministry International (aka the Lord’s Kitchen) where he, accompanied by his wife, Dr (Mrs) Patience Umo Eno, worshipped at Eket Local Government Area of the state.

Speaking on the backdrop of unending calls and text messages to him requesting for appointments, Governor Eno stated that there’s no way he can accommodate all Akwa Ibom people in appointments into the few key available offices in the state, stressing that the best he can do is to encourage people to go into profitable business ventures and make meaningful gains.

“There is no way we can appoint everybody to work in Government. It is not possible. But there is a way we can help you go into trade and eke a living with what you are doing.

“Government is going to specifically budget money to help strengthen small businesses and I can tell you that on good authority.

“The only way you can benefit is to have something doing. I would not lie to you, if a man keeps sending you money everyday and you keep looking up to that man, the day he will stop giving you, you will get angry with him. But if the man helps you to stand on your own, you will have your own mind and appreciate him. This is how men are raised.

“I beg of you, for those who have nothing doing, we are going to open a business school and even before we open one, try and ask yourself, what will I really do for a living because I assure you, help will soon be available”, he explained.

Governor Umo Eno, himself an entrepreneur, said that a man can only produce his kind and used the occasion to justify his frequent stop over on roadsides to interact and some times make purchases of grocery items from the traders, saying that he does that to encourage them in their business ventures which has provided for them a means of livelihood.

He hinted that the Ministry of Trade And Investments has been mandated to take stock of those entrepreneurs for possible assistance from government.

“A man can only produce his kind. I am an entrepreneur and I will determine to support small businesses.

“That is why when you see me stand by roadsides and encourage those traders, we are not doing show. I can never forget that I use to be like those people. I use to carry soft drink on my head and hawk for my mother at the Airport back then in Ikeja. I was selling drink even as a senior prefect in my school.

“When I see roadside traders, I remember I use to be like them. Grace only brought me out. Whenever God takes one out from an orphanage, the person should remember that there are other people in the orphanage, so he should not fail to return to the orphanage because God must have sent him help because of his being there in that orphanage.

“When you see me do that, it is not a show. I want to support them because some of those women you see on the road side, that is all they have. They train their children from there, pick their children’s bills and pay their rents from there. Anytime you support them, you are supporting the entire family.

“We have instructed the Ministry of Trade And Investment to take stock of small scale business entrepreneurs across the state so that we can see how to help them since they are not in any organized setting. Without this measure no one will reach them.

“It is better to help those people who got up early in the morning, went to the market, bought some fruits and grocery items and stand there to sell than to give money to people who will just wake up by 10am to stretch and wait till 5pm and begin to send me some wonderful texts”, he remarked.

Preaching on the theme “Activating the the marvelous help of God” culled from 2 Chronicles 26:15 and 2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13, Pastor Eno advised that everyone should strive to work hard in order to earn a living by decent and responsible means.

He harped on dignity of labour, saying that it is biblically confirmed that any one who does not work does not deserve to eat and advised Christians to brace up to the challenge of hustling in their daily endeavours.

The church service featured praise and worship session, congregational hymns, choir renditions, holy communion and exhortation.