Ime Okon: Leveraging legislative experience for effective representation

BY ETOROBONG INYANG

With his inauguration as a law maker in the sixth assembly, Ime Okon, who was elected for a second term by the people of Ibiono Ibom after a successful and result-oriented first term has set out to pursue a legislative agenda that would consolidate the development of his constituency, fielding questions from a cross section of the media in Uyo, the lawyer turned politician expressed gratitude to his constituents for giving him another mandate of four years to serve them in the House. 

Aware of the expectations of his constituents, Okon maintained that his decision to venture into politics was essentially to serve the people, and added that his first term score card didn’t disappoint the people of Ibiono Ibom, despite the challenges he faced in the fifth assembly.

He has assured that in the sixth assembly, he would leverage on his legislative experience, skills, and knowledge to ensure that development challenges facing the area were addressed by the present government.

 ”As a representative of the people, I was able to draw government attention to challenges like the road leading to the paramount ruler’s palace, the issue of Government Technical College, Ikot Ada Idem, the issue of General Hospital in IbionoIbom which is yet to take off, and several roads in the constituency which are still facing some challenges. I pray as I am coming in this second term, I should be able to get government to handle those projects”, Okon said. 

Aware that the business of law making requires team work where every member was expected to be a team player, Okon has charged his colleagues to cue behind the leadership of the House by cooperating and supporting the Speaker to succeed in the task of making laws that would impact positively on the aspirations of Akwa Ibom people, even as he assured that he was in high spirit and willing to contribute his quota to the development of the state. 

“I am in high spirits.  Whatever contributions I can make for the Assembly to move forward and also for Akwa Ibom to move forward, I will have to do it. I want to contribute my own quota to the progress and development of the state. The returning numbers have the duty to assist the person that has emerged as the speaker to ensure that he understands the nitty-gritty of lawmaking in the House of Assembly. We have a duty to do that”. 

Among other factors that have marked his success was his constant engagement with his constituents through constituency briefing during which the development challenges and aspirations of the people of Ibiono Ibom were discussed and solutions proffered.  

One aspect of his success that should be mentioned is youth development and empowerment where he has committed scarce financial resources to sponsoring scholarships for students, quiz competitions among schools, and the training of youths in skills’ acquisition programme as a strategy to develop human capital in his constituency. Okon hasn’t neglected infrastructure, he has facilitated the construction, renovation and rehabilitation of classroom blocks in schools across the eleven wards in his constituency. 

He has assured the people of Ibiono Ibom that he would relentlessly pursue the re-opening of Government Technical College, Ikot Ada Idem, which was closed down about 10years ago, so as to give opportunity to Ibiono Ibom and other Akwa Ibom youths to acquire technical education. For him, education should go beyond formal schooling, and that also informed his resolve to sponsor Ibiono Ibom youths in skills’ acquisition programmes as a means of identifying ways to foster creativity and entrepreneurship. 

Okon has promised to sustain and strengthen his partnership with the relevant stakeholders for maximum benefits to his constituency; this he maintained would be done do through legislation, oversight, drawing the attention of government and other development partners to the plight of his constituency. 

Already, he has indentified the major development challenges facing his constituency to include among others, lack of access road to the palace of the paramount ruler of Ibiono Ibom, the need to complete the second phase of the much talked about Use-Ikot-Amama road, construction of a general hospital which was approved with a site at Oko-ita, and the need to re-open Government Technical College, Ikot Ada Idem for academic activities. This clearly has marked him as a responsible and responsive leader who is in touch with his people. 

There is no doubt that Okon has the tools in his leadership tool box needed to drive his vision, he is focused, cerebral, purposeful, and emotionally intelligent to connect and relate with key stakeholders to achieve his set out goals.  

Knowing that he would not achieve his goals in isolation, he has promised to cooperate with his colleagues and has also sought their cooperation in the House in order to actualize his dream for his constituency. He has also sued the cooperation of both the executive and judiciary arms of government in a mutually respectable manner in which issues would be resolved through constructive engagement of ideas, rather than fisticuffs.

“When your tenure as a lawmaker elapse, you should be bold to say, during the four years, I was able to serve my people well. I was able to influence this or that to happen. You would not come out to say, during the time I served my people; I was engaged in fisticuffs up to ten times or five times with the executive and all that.  It is in the interest of our people that the two arms of government should work together. But in doing so, there must be mutual respect for each arm”, Okon said, “at the back of your mind, you must know that you have to deliver the dividends of democracy. You can’t really do that unless you agree to have some synergy”.

With a very impressive first term score card, they people of Ibiono Ibom know that, Okon’s second term in the sixth assembly would fetch them more development projects, infrastructure, empowerment and effective representation, even as he has envisaged that the call for financial autonomy and adequate funding of the legislature would be made possible for the legislature to perform effectively and efficiently.