-Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it”-Mark Twain.
No man can truly know everything about himself. This position is evidently supported by some well known philosophers. To them, no man exists until another’s existence is ascertained or better put, no man is an island and it takes the other man to complete a credible assessment of another man.
Therefore, when the world’s attention turned to Akwa Ibom State, insisting that the Governor is a man to watch-in terms of delivering dividends of good Governance, the Nation-from the Presidency to EFCC and of course the die-hard opposition including those in Diaspora, woke up to their ‘oversight’ functions of monitoring. From then on till now, the attention has been focused on Governor Godswill Akpabio, the man behind the never-fading stories making the rounds in the state and outside the shores of this nation. In unimaginable way, the result has been an undiluted verdict that is now on the wings of history.
While some local and national dailies report Governor Akpabio as “positively angry”, others like the opposition national dailies, say he just “phenomenal” with his projects. After traversing the length and breadth of the state to commission projects, President Goodluck Jonathan, publicly dismissed loads of petitions which flooded his office alleging mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.
According to him, “From the projects I have seen and commissioned, your Governor (Akpabio) is not playing politics with projects. From what I have seen so far, it is evident that Akwa Ibom State Government is driven by a singular commitment to enhancing the welfare and wellbeing of the people with true and functioning infrastructural development and the provision of critical social amenities, human capacity development. The pace of development definitely demonstrates that the governor and his team are focused and committed to transforming Akwa Ibom State.”
In all, the success story recorded to date is an eloquent testimony that the Governor was painstaking in the selection of a crack team of tested and proven technocrats and professionals of international repute, as his cabinet members to help in actualizing his dreams for his people. One such professional-a Banker of great standing and go-getter is Mr. Bassey Albert Akpan. This banker extraordinaire and Commissioner of Finance-the longest serving Commissioner in the Executive Council of the present administration, is happy to be part of the class of this “Teacher” of good governance, designer of Nigeria’s leadership model and the oracle of development, Chief Akpabio. Working with this great and impeccable character, brings out the best in any member of his cabinet that is worth his calling and Bassey Albert falls into this class of intelligent technocrat that the Governor can vouch for anywhere in the world as a successful team leader and player.
His appointment as the Chairman of Inter-Ministerial Direct Labour Coordinating Committee in 2007 was not a misplaced priority. In fact he was well fitted in the square hole. The grit in him is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on his passion for a particular long-term goal or endstate, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve his respective objectives. His perseverance promotes the overcoming of obstacles or challenges that lie within his path to accomplishing his tasks which also serves as a driving force in achievement realization. This ‘Get It Done’ personality, has a passion and commitment towards the long-term objective which is the overriding factor that provides the stamina required to “stay the course” amid challenges and set-backs. Essentially, Bassey Albert Akpan is always focused on winning the Marathon and not the Sprint.
This Superb ‘Brand’ Personality and the never- get- tired Chairman of a performing committee that has impressed Governor Akpabio by delivering on his job- a whooping 4,700 completed and commissioned projects, scattered in various communities in the 31 Local Government Areas of the state, can mark him out as a MAGICIAN. This is the Spirit of Uncommon Transformation driven by courage, resilience, grit, conscientiousness, creativity, excellence and perfection. The ‘Enin Ibiono’ is a firm or better put ‘Hard’ administrator whose ‘hardiness’ is a combination of attitudes that provides the courage and motivation to do the hard strategic work of turning stressful circumstances from potential disasters into growth opportunities.
Bassey Albert Akpan is an individual with the ability to persist through difficult circumstances. He truly has a leadership spirit and he is the man to watch. That His boss Chief Godswill Akpabio-a man whose leadership style has been Methodical, Realistic and Bold, openly nicknamed this Dependable and Achievement Oriented go-getter “INWEK MI” meaning: my strength, my breadth or my power is an eloquent testimony that this workaholic is a carbon copy of his boss-His Excellency-the Governor. There are some sterling qualities that propels the successes of this master-architect mentioned earlier to include:
COURAGE: While courage is hard to measure, it is directly proportional to your level of grit. More specifically, your ability to manage the fear of failure is imperative and a predicator of success. It is understood that there are valuable lesson in defeat and that the vulnerability of perseverance is requisite for high achievement. Bassey Albert does not care about critics; he is not interested if a strong man fumbles and stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. For him, the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, sweat and blood; someone who strived valiantly; who errs; one that comes again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst knows if he fails, at least failed for daring greatly.
The fear of failure or atychiphobia as the medical sets calls it, can be a debilitating disorder characterized by an unhealthy aversion to risk (or strong resistance to embracing vulnerability). Some of the symptoms of fear of failure which includes anxiety, mental blocks etc which scientist ascribe to genetics are surmountable and according to Eleanor Roosevelt: “do something that scares you everyday. In all, Bassey Albert sees courage as a muscle that must be exercised daily. He has a confident character not to be afraid or intimidated easily and without being incautious or inconsiderate.
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: It is generally agreed that there are five core character traits known in psychology as the BIG FIVE. They are: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neurotic. Each exists on a continuum with its opposite at the other end, our dependable personality-Bassey Albert is the expression of the dynamic interaction of each other and all at any given time. Conscientiousness in this context means careful and painstaking; meticulous. A 1992 study by L. M. Hough- an educationist found the definition to be more nuanced when applied to tenacity. Bassey Albert-our achievement-oriented personality, is one who works tirelessly, tries to do a god job, and completes the task at hand, before pleasure.
RESILIENCE: This is the ability to recover from setbacks and cope effectively with stress. In Andrew Zolli’s book “Resilience, Why Things Bounce Back, he defines resilience as “the ability of people, communities and systems to maintain their core purpose and integrity among unforeseen shocks and surprises.” Resilience is a dynamic combination of optimism, creativity, and confidence, which together empowers one to reappraise situations and regulate emotion-a behavior many social scientists refer to as “hardiness” or “grit”. Zolli takes it even further and explains that ‘hardiness’ has three tenants: “(a) the belief that one can find meaningful purpose in life, “(b) the belief that one can influence one’s surroundings and the outcome of events, and “(c) the belief that positive and negative experiences will lead to learning and growth.”
For Bassey Albert, resilience is the powering mechanism that draws his head up, moves him forward and helps him persevere despite whatever obstacles he faces along the way. In other words, this gritty man of the moment believes that “everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, then it is not the end. Confidence gives him the strength to get up and remount.
EXCELLENCE: Bassey Albert as a gritty personality does not seek for perfection instead he strives for ‘excellence.’ For him, perfection is excellence’s pernicious cousin but there are certain times when perfection is necessary to establish standards and pursuing it is like chasing a hallucination. Excellence is his attitude not an endgame. Excellence is bound with the notion of fulfillment of purpose or function and is closely associated with virtue. Because this is a way of his committee staying above others, the Governor could not help it but commend the excellent performance the team for good quality work that is second to none.
HUMANENESS: Bassey Albert is a man whose humaneness, candour and forthrightness make dealing with him a source of fortitude. He is a man with great and intense passion to create a positive impact in his society and leave indelible footprints on marbled grounds especially in the lives of the down-trodden. He possesses a nature of manifesting love to mankind, regardful of others-beneficent. That he pulls a mammoth crowd and enjoys lavish goodwill across the state, is because he is given to acts that are kind and charitable- very generous. His benevolent, altruism is with the intention of increasing the well-being of mankind through his charitable giving.
The bible says ‘the gift of a man makes room for him.’ This Youngman apart from taking after the philanthropic nature of his boss is said to be born with this nature of giving even before he came into governance. Recently, he splashed a whooping sum-11m naira on members of his ward in Ibiono Ibom which political opponent misconstrue as settlement to CULTISTS? These tantrums from his enemies of progress are a calculated attempt to smear campaign on his good nature and rubbish his political career and ambitions. Honestly, this is one Personality to watch in the unfolding events in the State and in the Country. Bassey Albert has a nature with the potency to breathe life into dead situations, which he has cultivated into his committee with startling and impeccable results as evident in the on-going commissioning of projects by no less a personality than the ‘Oracle of Development’ and the Uncommon Transformer himself-Chief Godswill Akpabio. Bassey Albert’s nature as enunciated in this piece, has worked remarkably for him.
Therefore the Inter-ministerial Direct Labour Coordinating Committee under Bassey Albert Akpan, who doubles as Commissioner of Finance, was established by Governor Akpabio with the prime goal of accelerating development and improving the quality of life of our rural dwellers. The committee has succeeded in preventing rural decay. Administered through the Ministry of Finance under “The Get It done” personality-Mr. Bassey Albert Akpan, the Committee implements its programs judiciously and promptly by circumventing redundant bureaucratic channels.
A summary of the achievements of this very commendable Committee from 2007 to date indicates a series of infrastructural, educational and health-related accomplishments. On record till date, a total of 4,700 Inter-ministerial Direct Labour projects including electricity, mini-water projects spread over several communities and villages. The construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of primary and secondary schools as well as health and maternity centres have been commendable.
Today, the Inter-Ministerial Committee remains the vital organ in the extension of development to the remotest parts of Akwa Ibom State.
Kudos to Bassey Albert Akpan, THE- INWEK- GODSWILL, and the members of his Committee.
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