When he stepped aside to contest for the House of Representatives ticket under the PDP, I was around the Ministry of Special Duties premises to witness the send-forth party for him by the staff of the Ministry. I witnessed how staff eulogized him for all he was able to do within two years and some months at the Ministry. Many of these staff shed tears of joy, an act that got me emotional too.
Okpolupm Etteh contested and won the Primary election and proceeded to represent the party at the general elections where he won convincingly to the glory of God.
As a born parliamentarian who served at the State Legislative Assembly for two terms of four years each and seven months, it took him nothing to settle down at his new office at the Green Chambers of the National Assembly. Immediately after he assumed his new responsibility, Etteh initiated people-centric motions, bills, and attending to oversight functions, an action that has attracted encomiums to the soft-spoken gentleman of the class by supporters and to those who had some reservations about his candidacy.
In Abuja, the Nation’s capital, the lawmaker had observed an increased crime rate at night as a result of constant blackouts occasioned by the unavailability of street lights, without wasting time, he presented a motion for the restoration of street lights in Abuja, and this was immediately attended to and considered by members of the National Assembly. Barr. Nyesom Wike on appointment as Minister of F.C.T, took up that and it became his first point of action on assumption of office.
Etteh who represents the people of Eket/ONNA/Esit Eket/Ibeno Federal Constituency couldn’t have forgotten his immediate constituency and their needs as his attention was drawn to the plight of the people of Ikot Ebiere and Ikot Ndua Iman communities, both engulfed with flood at the time which rendered the people homeless. The motion was immediately referred to the appropriate committee for consideration.
Considering the economic contributions of the Constituency to the Nation’s purse, and with no visible Oil and Gas Training Institute, Etteh within weeks of assumption called on the Assembly to consider the establishment of a petroleum training institute in the Federal constituency, according to him will help train more manpower while creating more direct and indirect jobs. This bill is currently at second reading at the National Assembly, with high hopes that it will scale through and will be assented to by the president in due time.
Not satisfied, the public relations expert also presented a bill for the establishment of a School of Nursing and Midwifery in the Federal Constituency to help train more Nurses in the federal constituency to close the gap for loss of personnel in the field due to migration abroad and shortage of manpower. This bill, just as the previous one, has also passed through its first reading.
Etteh, the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on University Education currently operates in his natural habitat and understands the needs of his people. He is readily available to help attain those needs. With his impressive start so far, analysts across party lines are of the view that the Former Esit Eket/Ibeno State House Member will not disappoint his people and the State in attracting meaningful development to different communities across the Federal Constituency.
Itoro Etti, a Journalist and public affairs analyst writes from Esit Urua in Eket LGA
