As we look back to the Akwa Ibom Day and the launching of the Dakkada initiative by Governor Emmanuel Udom, we bring you the official Dakkada launch speech by the governor. It’s a call to all Akwa Ibomites to Rise To Greatness. Read it below:
My dear compatriots, I invite you to share in the majesty of this auspicious moment in our history. A moment set for our rebirth, reinvention and rejuvenation. For we stand today at an intersection where a glorious past meets a hopeful future. If we were to situate this moment in the context of the Bible, it would be that we have crossed River Jordan. Behind us is the wilderness and before us is the Promised Land.
We can look back and remember our exodus from Cross River State, when God granted our wish 28 years ago, with the creation of this state that is appropriately named after Him. We can remember the years we toiled in the wilderness as house helps and servants in the nooks and crannies of our nation. Yes, we can still remember the days we wallowed in under-development and scorn as we struggled to find our feet and catch up with the other states in our country.
Today, we have stepped out of the wilderness and crossed the Jordan. We behold the allure and beauty of the possibilities before us. Though we can still see the walls of Jericho (walls of ethnicity and jealousy, walls of hatred and avarice, walls of pettiness and mischief), we are not daunted because He who brought us this far did not bring us to leave us.
Our problem is not with the walls we see, but with the walls in our mind. Many of us have left Egypt, but we still carry the servile mind-set and the divisive attitude of Egypt in our hearts. But the demand of today, which has brought us together to launch this Dakkada campaign, is that we must rise up as a people, take the ark of faith and go around the walls so that they will tumble down like the walls of Jericho.
This campaign mirrors the campaign of the Israelites. They had to rise up and go round the walls of Jericho. The walls of Jericho did not go down the first day nor the second day, but they kept going boldly with confidence and open chests. They held their heads high and their chests out. Around and around, they went. They sang and shouted for joy, then the walls came tumbling down.
As the Dakkada campaign starts today. The walls may not come down today, but from where the sun now stands, we will not retreat nor surrender until every wall comes tumbling down, and we step into the dreams of our forefathers. The beauty of the sunset is a proof that the end of this our well thought out Dakkada Initiative shall be beautiful. We will march together and sing the Dakkada song, and live its creed. We will encourage each other in this journey of faith, and join our hands together. We will not break our ranks nor break our steps. Akwa Ibom is on the march, and there is no stopping us.
My brothers and sisters, today is sunrise in Akwa Ibom. We have come to sound the clarion call for all to see the shafts of sunlight bursting through the horizon and rising up. Now is the time for us to obey the Biblical injunction for us to wake up the mighty men and beat our pruning hooks into spears. Now is the time to let our nation see our ingenuity. Now is the time for creativity and innovation in our land to manifest. Now is the time to wake up the mighty men and women so that our nation will know that we are a great people and a blessed generation.
We appeal to all tribalists to rise from the valley of hatred to the mountain of brotherhood. We remind them that he who keeps a man down must stay down with him. We appeal to the petty-minded and remind them that it is only when Akwa Ibom towers, that he can become a giant. We appeal to the hatemongers to know that he who digs a pit for another will fall into that same pit. So let us take this message to every member of the Akwa Ibom family and enjoin them to Dakkada and join the march for a new Akwa Ibom anchored on moral transformation, spiritual rebirth, ethical re-orientation and industrial renaissance.
On May 29, 2015 you graciously extended to me the mandate to be your Governor. In execution of this sacred trust as your Governor and in observance of the oath I took before our God and our good people, we have spared no efforts in keeping faith with that covenant. During my electioneering campaign, I had laid out a bold plan in my 5-Point agenda of wealth creation, economic and political inclusion, poverty alleviation, infrastructural consolidation and expansion and job creation. So far, we have kept our eyes on the ball, and this is evident through the numerous projects undertaken by this administration.
We have so far undertaken the construction of 137 kilometers of road with 10 bridges spanning all the three Senatorial Districts. We have pursued the construction and completion of a second runway at the Ibom International Airport and a 1.2km underground drainage in Uyo by Nsikak Eduok/Oron road junction.
Yesterday, we commissioned water reticulation and head-works in Ifa Atai and Idu Uruan, in Uyo and Uruan LGA respectively. More of these water projects will soon be commissioned. One woman who typifies the Dakkada philosophy is Dr (Sister) Ann Ward. Her labours of love at St Lukes Hospital, Anua is legendary. Yesterday, we decided to immortalize her name in an ultra-modern gynaecology ward named after her in the 78 year old Hospital. We have also renovated a male and children wards for the hospital.
The thrust of our administration is industrialization. In driving this, we have revitalized and re-commissioned Peacock Paints. We have performed ground-breaking ceremonies for a car assembly plant in Itu LGA by a leading Israeli auto manufacturing company- Mimshac Merkavim as well as the Low Energy Display (LED) Manufacturing plant at Itam. We have brought the Shoprite Mall to the Tropicana in Uyo. We have also performed the ground-breaking ceremonies of the Fertilizer Plant and the Daar Communications Broadcast complex at Abak. At the same time, an Electric meter assembly and clay processing plants are underway in Onna LGA.
We hope to flourish in freight business. That is why the Ibom Deep Sea-port project is setting sail. We have built more power substations and this has improved electricity supply significantly. We have invested heavily in skill and manpower development for our teeming youths, whom we are committed to securing a brighter future for. In this wise, we are training a thousand youths in oracle technology. We have also sent our youths to acquire skills in agriculture in Israel, while another set will be sent for power sector training. At the moment, about 329 youths will soon commence training in photography and film production.
Compatriots, we have spared no efforts in attracting foreign direct investment. Our target is to build a prosperous glittering State that will be the envy of the world.
But the greatest development is in the mind. Let every Akwa Ibom son and daughter know that no matter the circumstances they find themselves, they can rise and shine like a million stars. Let us rise to illuminate our world with our God-given talents and potentials. It is a product of the mind. If you can dream it, you can make it. That is the power behind the Dakkada Campaign.
An American, R. Buckminster Fuller thought his world had come to an end and decided to commit suicide. He wrote the suicide note and went to Lake Michigan to commit suicide. But something ministered to him that he had no reason to end his life because he did not create himself. He got up (Dakkada) with a new resolve to succeed in life. He succeeded and at his death not only did he have over 180 patented inventions in his name, but he was inducted into the American Hall of Fame as one of the greatest scientists, mathematicians and architects to come from America.
We declare to you that no matter your circumstances, dakkada. We declare to you that what you were born to see is not what you were born to be, dakkada. You may have been born in the slum but the slum was not born in you, dakkada. People may look down on you, and say you will never amount to much, but they only know where you are coming from, not where you are going to. So their opinion does not count, what counts is your attitude, dakkada.
With a firm and unshakable belief in God’s guidance of the affairs of this State, we commit this project into His mighty hands and pray that He would infuse it into our spirits, souls and bodies. May we now rise together and recite the Dakkada creed as prayer even as we launch this campaign in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit – Amen.