Barr. Onofiok Luke, member representing Etinan/Nsit Ubium/Nsit Ibom federal constituency. (Credit : Amazing Grace Team).
By Abasifreke Effiong
Barr. Onofiok Luke, member representing Etinan federal constituency has made sterling, invaluable contributions that have enriched governance discourse in Nigeria and his state, Akwa Ibom. He has spoken profoundly in support of governance reforms including judicial and legislative autonomy, the antagonised local government autonomy, quick dispensation of criminal justice and improved welfare for staff of the Nigerian judiciary, electoral reforms, fiscal transparency, and human capacity development.
In his state, Barr. Luke has advocated a more inclusive economic programme that would not leave the poorest of the poor vulnerable to exploitation by middle class politicians, investors and businessmen.
The lawmaker who sits as chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary and member of the committee on Security and National Intelligence has said repeatedly that he believes in the sustenance of the industrialisation agenda of the Udom Emmanuel administration in Akwa Ibom state. However, it seems Luke like many others feel the industrialisation agenda is “highly fallotine” or esoteric, and has left Akwa Ibomites on the lowest rung of society disconnected economically. He has spoken feelingly in support of the 10 years education roadmap of the state particularly the entrepreneurship and vocational components recommended by the education think-tank committee.
Earlier this month, Luke’s advocacy for an off-the-norm capacity development for civil servants in Akwa Ibom state resonated loud with the personal observations I shared few months earlier with a friend. This was my observation. Some senior civil servants in the state, among them were government information managers, were designated to attend a zoom meeting earlier this year. At the end, I observed that less 2 percent of the expected attendees joined the meeting. Out of concern, I reached out to those who did not attend the meeting to find out why they could not join us. Their response was uniform, ‘they don’t like online meetings and didn’t know how to go about it.’ Whoa! I exclaimed. If senior level staff are this fatigued about adoption of innovations, then I saw why we still have heaps of paper files on staff tables across offices in the state civil service.
For the above reason, Luke’s advocacy which said, “we must go beyond the easy, by constantly disengaging from the norms…”, deserves a thought. The punchline, “we must go beyond the easy…” is an excerpt from Luke’s keynote at the opening of the Nigeria Labour Congress state level school on November 3, 2021.
From casual reviews of social media posts by his media team, Barr. Onofiok Luke, has presented keynotes and led discussions at more than seven significant events in the last two months plus.
READ : Next Governor of Akwa Ibom must continue with industrialisation – Luke
Luke led discussions on two panels during the 2021 NBA week in Port Harcourt, Rivers state. He spoke alongside top Justices at the Experts Review Meeting on the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, organised by the Center for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS) and at the 13th Chief Joe Gadzama (SAN) public lecture on “Redefining democracy, yearnings of the minority in a democratic setting”.
At the NLC state level school, Luke spoke on the topic, “Skill development: reshaping Union’s policy, strategies and actions for sustainability of the workplace.” He said, “Akwa Ibom state has developed economically, infrastructure wise, but the development has left our people behind technologically. There is need for workers to learn new set of skills. There is need for upskilling for the jobs of tomorrow.”
Trends in technology are making many young Nigerians unemployable. Tomorrow is not assured for very many workers especially those paid employees who feel fatigued about thinking, unlearning old methods and theories, learning and relearning trends.
At the NLC school, Luke like other deep thinkers shared his worries about the laxity shown by some workers towards adoption of innovations that would make them more efficient, effective and useful in the workplace. There is a surge in unemployment. Many workers currently employed are inefficient and may not be retained in their employment in the next six to seven years because they do not have requisite skills and proficiencies to adapt to changing workplace flexibility caused by multiple disruptions in knowledge, methods and procedures driven by new information and communication technologies, research outcomes in sciences, global pandemic like the COVID-19, and the next big one, the global energy transition.
Therefore, Luke advised NLC and workers’ welfare associations to prioritize demands for skill development for their members – a bit above other considerations – in order to protect them against growing job insecurities, uncertainties and changes in work spaces. The Akwa Ibom state government will have to prioritize practical training for civil servants and get them proficient in the use of at least the smart, middle-skill techs.
Luke stressed that the state government must ensure that Akwa Ibom people are kept fully abreast of the business opportunities in the maritime sector. They must be fully trained and certified for job opportunities that will be created when the Ibom deep seaport and industrial city are fully developed. Maritime and aviation sectors present the biggest prospects for job creation in Akwa Ibom state. If the government and the people are not deliberate in building a pool of relevant skills now when the boom is not fully blown, her indigenous workforce would be struggling to catch up with menial jobs later in the years. That would be a huge opportunity lost.
Luke’s submission is that the state must be proactive and deliberate in procuring suitable trainings and global certifications for her citizens. His advocacy is important. Recently, Akwa Ibom state was ranked among the top five states in the federation in the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) by the Governor’s Forum. When IPSAS was introduced in the state, Luke who was then chairman of the House committee on finance and appropriations led the advocacy for the training of members of the 5th Assembly and principal staff of the Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly, on the use of the IPSAS template. While lawmakers in some state Houses of Assembly in the country are of today strutting with the appraisal of IPSAS, Akwa Ibom state is using a more advanced template, the IPSAS -Accrual, and it is understood both by the accountants who prepare the budgets and financial reports and the lawmakers, most of them are none accountants, who review and scrutinize the budget and financial report.
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Government must prepare her citizens for jobs in all facets of the economy. It must see skill incubation as a social obligation. No skill or knowledge is lost. I know of two young graduates from Akwa Ibom state who eke a living from drafting Bills, motions and reports for lawmakers and NGOs. They are always having jobs on their tables because they are proficient. They got the opportunity to learn the whole gamuts about legislative practices through the Onofiok Luke Legislative Internship Programme. When Luke started the legislative internship programme in his first term in the House of Assembly, many people did not see the prospects because it was not the usual form of empowerment. Young, smart Akwa Ibom guys are earning a living and enjoying other pecks consulting for state and federal lawmakers and NGOs working on governance reforms, because of the training opportunity they got through the Onofiok Luke Legislative Internship Programme.
Beyond the big-ticket skills that require formal learning, Luke advocated that the administration after Governor Udom Emmanuel, must pay attention to developing the crafts economy of the state. The craft economy is larger than the knowledge economy, but it is not mainstreamed in the current industrialisation agenda. The traditional fishermen, the fire men who smoke fish, crayfish and other seafood, tinkers, families who live off uncategorized businesses in wetland areas of the state, families living off palm wine business and value-chain, distillers of local gin, wood and cement sculptors, masons, bricklayers, painters, taxi drivers, shoemakers, barbers and hairdressers, fashion designers, welders, makers of traditional farm tools, and other low skill and unskilled artisans constitute the craft economy. Some of their skills are in high demand, others will be extinct in the next few years. Their skills will be going extinct not because there is no demand for them but because they cannot evolve with current trends. With their current skills – nearly outdated – they cannot give our clothes, cars, tools and houses the high quality, fine finishing we desire. That has reduced the demand for their services and income. People are paying more to outsource skills which are in abundant supply here, the reason is that the ones we have here are not proficient.
The huge manpower within the crafts economy needs upskilling that will make it fit for the service demands of today and tomorrow. If the crafts economy can retain up to 60 percent of the state government’s annual expenditure in the economic sector, the loud complaints of hunger in the state coming from households on the lower and lowest economic rung would be silenced and the multiplier effects on the well-being of citizens, the IGR collection from the informal sector and the shadow economy of the state will be huge.
