Ace architect and principal partner of Novone Consult Limited, Mr. Ezekiel Nya-Etok, has challenged the people of Akwa Ibom State to rise up, own government and “zone the 2019 Governorship to meritocracy, competence, performance and higher standards, not ethnicity.”
“Today, we must zone the Office of the Governor to Competence. We must zone it to Performance, and to Higher Standards. It should be open to competition and superior agenda. The occupant of the Office of the Governor must feel the heat EVERYDAY, and be made to up his game on a daily basis to be sure of completing his first tenure, before the mere thought of a second, and not take it for granted, and as a right by presumed ‘justice’s illusion,” he said.
He said until the ethnic or senatorial sentiment of zoning is pushed aside, Akwa Ibom, and Nigeria in general, will not make progress with the present political system.
Mr. Nya-Etok made this known on Thursday while briefing newsmen on the recent status of his brainchild project, the Federal Government Social Housing Estate at Ikot Ntuen Nsit.
“The time has come when we must change the music as an imperative. We must change our existing political structure. It was not designed to bring progress. The Chief Executive of the state should be a function of performance not a right. We must realize that the Chief Executive of the state is not the owner of the state. I am 100% dissatisfied with the present system at all level. What runs the system is not meritocracy but personal interest,” he explained.
To further drive his point, he liken the office of the Governor to that of the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, saying “Imagine a bank CEO under whose tenure the bank was losing money and was probably heading for bankruptcy. Likelihood is that he will be removed before time. If on the other hand, he had done so well, likelihood would be that on completion of the allowed two terms, we would be seeking ways to amend the company laws to give him a third term. The bottom line is that his staying in office or otherwise, must be tied to Performance, and not Ethnic Background.”
“Let’s zone the management of our common matrimony to meritocracy. Let’s look for higher returns on our dividends. Let’s have zero tolerance for mediocrity. Let’s open up the space to new ideas, excellence, performance driven expectations, and we will all be the better for it,” Mr. Nya-Etok added.
He maintained that the state and its people were living in desperate time and needed desperate measure to break even, stressing that the Governor should come down to low profile that is in tune with the people.
The ace architect expressed concern over the state of Akwa Ibom and Nigeria, saying “We must change the music and the music must be low profile. Let Commissioners be professionals and not political leaders. Political leadership should be given to party heads. Government is big business and must be run as such. 2019 should be the turn of excellence, meritocracy and not any senatorial district. In 2019, we must go to the ballot to choose the new order.”
When asked if he will take the challenge to put things right as the next Governor of Akwa Ibom in 2019, the architect said he might likely consider the call on him to take up the responsibility of the Governorship.
He urged stakeholders of the Akwa Ibom project to stop playing politics with governance, saying we must stop to play politics, we must play governance. Politics is killing us. Let us do more of governance.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Nya-Etok informed that boreholes, electricity transformers were ready and that 20 Units that will cover over 40 families were also roofed.
