By Darlington UDOBONG
Chairman of Mkpat Enin Local Government Council, Mr. Ekanem Brown, has been scored high and given a pat on the back on enterprise development and legacy projects that will impact positively on the lives of the people of the area by Senior Special Assistant to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Microfinance and Enterprise Development, Mr. Ime Uwah.
Mr. Uwah, who made an unscheduled visit to the Mkpat Enin Shoe Factory on Friday, said the Council Chairman has not only helped in interpreting Governor Emmanuel’s Completion Agenda to the grassroots but has raised the bar of enterprise development in the area.
Speaking with Ibom Telegraph, Mr. Uwah said “I am impressed with what is on ground here in Mkpat Enin. The Chairman is doing the right thing and he knows exactly where the Governor is going to.”
“This is part of our entrepreneurial thrust. Our expansion plan and support for programmes like this in the area of marketing. We try to market what they produce to the rest of the world. We also look at areas we can make research, get investors to come in and get the right customers,” he maintained.
In his remarks, the Mkpat Enin Council boss said the business model of his administration “is designed to be sustainable” to aid all-round development of the area.
“Government businesses do not succeed when government manages such business. Government is meant to only provide enabling environment for the business to thrive. That is what we have done in Mkpat Enin,” he added.
Mr. Brown said the “Shoe Factory runs on its own and generates revenue to the Local Government Council. Before I leave the Local Government Council as Chairman, I want to ensure that our ventures, including the farms, run independently to generate revenue to the Local Government Council.”
Speaking further, he said “The quality of shoes produced in this Shoe Factory is excellent. We have done a few supplies and the testimonies we have received from those that patronized us have been excellent.”
The Mkpat Enin Council boss also used the opportunity to clear the air on the issue of running the Local Government Council as a family business, buying of awards and embezzlement of funds meant for the Local Government Area, saying they were unfounded and false.
In his words: “All those things are false. They said the Shoe Factory was not in existence, today you are here and you have seen it. Not just seen it, you have seen that it is producing shoes. I can mention to you the schools and security outfits that have patronized us. So, all those stories about Mkpat Enin are false, unfounded, malicious, ill-intended and should be discarded. You are here in Mkpat Enin, you should be asking the people of Mkpat Enin independently about the Colours of Mkpat Enin. You should be asking them to know if it made sales, if the woman selling groundnut in the market made profit from the Colours of Mkpat Enin. The issue of fund embezzlement is story. It only exists in the imaginations of the writers and theirsponsors.”
The empowerment that we are doing in Mkpat Enin is sustainable empowerment. For the women that are enterprising, we will expose them in all-round business. We are creating a platform of cash availability.
