Senator Ita Enang, SSA (Niger Delta Affairs) to President Muhammadu Buhari.
By Abasifreke Effiong
The Senior Special Assistant (Niger Delta Affairs) to the President, Senator Ita Enang, says he will work with the federal government to ensure that the Federal University of Technology approved for Akwa Ibom State is sited in Ikot Abasi local government.
He said at a press conference in Uyo that the federal government has insisted that the new university should be sited in the senatorial district where there is no federal tertiary institution.
“The federal government considers that there should a spread of federal institutions in the state and it is considered that the Federal University of Technology should be sited in Eket senatorial district.
“I do agree with the federal government and I give my full blessing to the University. The federal university will be located in Ikot Abasi local government in Eket senatorial district. I congratulate Senator Udoma Udo Udoma because the university is going to his local government.”
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Senator Enang called on Akwa Ibom people talk to Governor Udom Emmanuel to backtrack from insisting that the Federal University of Technology must be sited in his local government, ONNA.
He claimed that the Governor has made a formal request to the federal government to site the university in his hometown.
“Akwa Ibom people should rise up and encourage Governor Udom Emmanuel, to accept and work for the establishment of the University in Ikot Abasi and not ONNA. He has made a formal request that the University should be sited in ONNA. I pray Governor Udom Emmanuel should not press and insist that the university should be sited in his home.”
The former lawmaker said it would be insensitive and unstatesmanly for the Governor to insist on taking the Univerisity to his home.
In the last six years, Governor Emmanuel has sited most of the industries attracted to the state in his clan, Awa in ONNA local government area.
The syringe factory, metering factory, plywood factory, flour mill are all in ONNA. There is also the federal government’s oil and gas park, and the Akwa Ibom State University Teaching Hospital, built under a public private partnership with BUA Group as major donor to the project, in ONNA.
Senator Ita Enang said though he worked singlehandedly to attract the project to the state, he will work with the federal government to ensure the project is taken to Ikot Abasi where there is no government-owned tertiary institution.
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“I, Senator Ita Enang, pursued it, working with the federal authorities. I struggled for this institution from 2017, 2018, and 2019. So, as the person who requested for this institution and worked singlehandedly for it to be approved, I support the decision that the University should be sited in Ikot Abasi.”
He thanked the President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the Federal University of Technology for Akwa Ibom and a take off grant of N4billion for the institution.
“Among the four approvals that were made by the President, it is only Akwa Ibom and one other that will start the university fresh from virgin location. In other states they are converting an existing school to a university.
I thank President Muhammadu Buhari for this love. The President has demonstrated that indeed, he is ‘for everybody’. I thank the Minister of Education and every staff in the Federal Ministry of Education who made this approval possible.”
