I stand here with utmost pleasure to welcome all our stakeholders to this meeting. As a people bound by a common cultural heritage, it is expected that we gather like this as one to make contributions on how to move our dear local government forward. The challenges facing the country presently are not peculiar to a particular party, religion or ethnic group. All of us are buying from the same markets where prices of food items have increased outrageously. So, if we are together in facing these challenges, it is only wise that we stay together in finding solutions.

This stakeholders’ meeting is, first of all, to re-awaken the spirit of patriotism among us. It is a meeting that is meant to reignite our love for Mkpat Enin and earnest desire to see our people overcome the present challenges. Amidst the current situation, this meeting was also borne out of the need for us to begin to leverage our greatest strength which is our unity, our collective ideas, skills and experience. As stakeholders, our people continuously look up to us for directions and solutions because we are meant to be the pathfinders. That is why within and outside this local government, Mkpat Enin is judged by the actions and inactions of the leaders.

This meeting will further provide us with the opportunity to appraise and evaluate our progress. First, at the level of leadership; how the Transition Committee has fared in terms of performance and areas to make improvements. Secondly, at the level of community participation; how much have our people and communities supported the government in fostering development? Many of the challenges we are facing in Mkpat Enin are issues that we can tackle if we are sincere and committed. Again, that is why as an administration, the Transition Committee is taking the lead by hosting this all-inclusive stakeholders’ meeting irrespective of political interest, career paths or religion.

This Transition Committee has only existed for about four months, and by a simple calculation, that is a very tiny fraction of 35 years. But that notwithstanding, we have made a mark so far through quality leadership, good governance and driving people-cantered policies. Since coming into office, we have consciously aligned our programmes and interventions to the ARISE Agenda of our dear Governor, Pastor Umo Eno. Within these few months, we have touched all the five key areas of the A.R.I.S.E. which are Agriculture, Rural Development, Infrastructure, Security and Education.

So far, in agriculture, we have undertaken strategic interventions to revitalize the agricultural sector and promote food security. We launched the Back-To-Farm Initiative with the distribution of high-quality agriculture seedlings and materials to local farmers, aimed at increasing productivity and enhance the livelihoods of rural communities. We have supported women-led farmers’ cooperatives by helping them with registration.