Governor Udom Emmanuel has expressed appreciation to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, for partnering with the Akwa Ibom Enterprise and Empowerment Scheme, AKEES, to help people in the State to create wealth for themselves.
The State Governor gave his thanks yesterday at Uyo during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between SMEDAN and AKEES.
Representing the Governor, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Technical Matters and Due Process, who is also the coordinator of AKEES, Elder Ufot Ebong, described the Governor as one who sees the end from the beginning, hence the birth of AKEES, adding that every single moment of the Governor’s life is geared towards the sustainability and success of AKEES.
Elder Ebong expressed satisfaction that SMEDAN is interested in empowering and reducing unemployment and follows up with monitoring and guidance, stating that AKEES follows same line of thought and actions.
Describing the partnership between SMEDAN and AKEES as a marriage and the signing of the MOU as a consolidation of the union, the AKEES coordinator testified that since AKEES met SMEDAN the journey has been smooth.
The Director- General of SMEDAN, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, speaking earlier, congratulated Akwa Ibom State as the first in the South-South geo-political zone to partner with SMEDAN.
Extolling AKEES as a laudable project which empowers youth and is highly competitive so as to achieve the mandate of the State Governor, Dr. Friday Okpara, the Director of Strategic Partnership and Liaison, SMEDAN, Abuja, representing the Director-General of SMEDAN, pledged the support of SMEDAN to partner AKEES to help reduce the global problem of unemployment.
He also thanked the State Governor, for creating the scheme, stating that SMEDAN is ready to meet all the conditions contained in the MOU.
Highlight of the occasion was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the AKEES and SMEDAN.
