It was a night of excitement and merriment for low cadre civil servants in Akwa Ibom State as 150 of them smiled home with a two bedroom flat each having emerged winners of the Grace Housing Estate Promo of the Governor Umo Eno led- administration.
Speaking shortly after the raffle draw held at Fairmore Event Centre, Uyo, Governor Eno reiterated the determination of his administration to keep to his campaign promise of addressing the basic needs of the people.
He explained that the 400 Compassionate Homes to be built across the wards and local government areas for the vulnerable and the Grace Estate project designed for civil servants of level O1 to O8 are testaments of his resolve to provide shelter for the people, especially those of the lower class in the society.
The Governor who identified food, shelter, and health as the basic needs of the people, said that his administration has scored high in the provision of these needs for the betterment of the people.
According to him, “Apart from the 150 houses that we have given out today, we are building about 400 compassionate homes all across this state, in every ward and every local government. We know that we need to support our people.
“The greatest need of our people right now is food, shelter and healthcare, and we believe that we are scoring good points in these areas.
“When you look at the spread, you will see that we have scored very good points in each of these programmes that we have set up for ourselves.
Governor Eno commended the Head of Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien and Senior Special Assistant on ICT, Dr Frank Ekpenyong, for being painstaking in undertaking the task and ensuring optimum transparency and success.
He also appreciated stakeholders and people of the state for their support to the administration and the critics for pointing out areas of attention to give the administration a sense of direction.
“We thank you for your support in the Civil Service, we thank all of our critical stakeholders, we thank all our friends and we thank all our enemies and critics because they have helped us stay in check,” he added.
Earlier, the Head of Civil Service and Chairman Housing Allocation Committee, Elder Effiong Essien , described housing as one of the basic necessities of life but regretted the inability of the civil servants to acquire houses of their own.
He appreciated the Governor for breaking the jinx of inadequate accommodation for civil servants of grade level 01 to 08 through the Grace Estate initiative with a token of fifty thousand naira for expression of interest in the raffle draw.
Elder Essien noted that 554 workers in the junior category obtained the ticket and entered for the draw, and 150 of them emerged house owners through a transparent process.
Elder Essien thanked the Governor for his worker-friendly disposition having initiated the Health Insurance Scheme for the workers and has complimented the gesture with the Grace Housing project which addresses the housing need of the workers.
He congratulated the winners of the draw for their success and urged them to use this as a motivation to work harder for the state.
He assured the Governor of the worker’s commitment to the realization of the ARISE Agenda in their respective capacities.
A beneficiary, Victor Ernest Effiong, level 03 and Staff of the Office of the Deputy Governor, expressed delight for being a proud house owner, describing his new status as a dream come true.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Miss Comfort Michael of the State Ministry of Information, Clement Moses Bassey, Christopher Emem Ekpenyong, Udo Ofonime Elijah and others who emerged winners of the raffle draw.
