Geoffrey Ekenna 
The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, has said that human capital development was one of the key pillars of his ARISE Programme in the state.
Eno, who spoke yesterday, when he received an award for the Governor of the Year 2024, (Human Capacity Development) from the Management of the Daily Telegraph Publishing Company – Publishers of the New Telegraph, Sunday and Saturday titles – in Lagos, said that his government was focused on producing quality individuals in all spheres in the state, with a view to further developing the state. The Telegraph team was led by the Managing Director/ Editor in Chief of the company, Mr. Ayodele Aminu.
He was accompanied by the Editor, New Telegraph, Mrs. Juliet Bumah; Editor, Sunday Telegraph, Mr. Geoffrey Ekenna; Editor, Saturday Telegraph, Mr. Vincent Eboigbe; Business Development Manager, Mr. Dipo Ariyo, and the Photo Editor, Mr. Sulaiman Hussein. Aminu, before presenting the award to the governor, had said that the panel of judges of the company found his strides in human capacity development very impressive.
He said that it was an award that recognised the broad spectrum of interventions being made by the governor in bettering the quality of lives of the people of Akwa Ibom and residents.
Responding, the governor, who dedicated the award to his family for their support in difficult times and through his political journey, said that the family was important because after a tasking day’s job, peace and happiness were expected from the family when one returns home.
He said although his wife passed on physically, the immeasurable support she gave him afforded him the peace he needed to accomplish his goals.
Eno said: “We are proud to receive our brothers and members of the New Telegraph, who have come to honour us with the award of the Governor of the Year.
We would like to, on behalf of the government and the people, thank you so much for the honour you have done to us as a people because I just represent them.
As a matter of fact, this is the third we are receiving from very key media organisations this year. “When the Deputy Governor presented me the other award we won, I said:
‘The world is watching’. You have your own assessment of giving us the award in human capacity development and that is also why we are here.
This award is right in my own opinion because we are here to develop our human capacity on how to serve our people and next week, the Vice President will be in Akwa Ibom to inaugurate the ARISE Human Capacity Development Plan. In all of the goals that we set for ourselves, human capacity development is top on our agenda as you have heard.
