Lagos — Chairman, House of Representatives' Committee on Media and Public Affairs, last week, in his Eket federal constituency, commissioned some constituency projects which he sponsored along with others that he facilitated in collaboration with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

True and committed representation of the people of Eket Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State, seems to have earned Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, Chairman House of Representatives on Media and Public Affairs, the love confidence and respect of his constituents. Having said to have carried his people along in his over two years of representation at the National Assembly, Eyiboh confidently moves around in his constituency. The constituency comprises Eket, Esit Eket, Onna and Ibeno Local Government Areas of the state without any iota of insecurity. The spokesman of the House of Representatives, Eyiboh, is said to always be at home with his constituents.

As part of his constituency projects, Eyiboh used almost the whole of last week to commission 12 boreholes 100 per cent funded by him, which were sited in various communities. Each of the boreholes was provided with overhead water tanks, while one 4.5 KVA generator and four of the boreholes are located at Eket, four at Onna and the remaining at Esit-Eket and Ibeno.

Instead of making the commissioning of the borehole projects a more or less government affair, Eyiboh chose the village heads to champion the commissioning exercise. Apart from the Treasurer of The Initiatives, Hon. Mikai Al-Amin Bmitosahi, Eyiboh deliberately refused to invite governors or political leaders, because according to him, he wanted the people to take ownership of the projects being commissioned.

Eyiboh who said his intention was to give back to his people instead of playing politics with their well being, also took journalists on tour of some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) projects located in his constituency, which he facilitated by providing money to ensure their completion as the Federal Government was said to have only provided 15 per cent mobilisation for the contractors to do their jobs. The MDGs projects included a library and massive water projects at Ibeno Local Lovernment Area. At Eket Local Government Area, Eyiboh is currently building a private community radio station, the first of its kind in Akwa Ibom State. He also spoke about the scholarship and training that he is giving to the youth of constituency.

"The projects are funded 100 per cent from my pocket. Now, I have 12 boreholes in various locations and the boreholes are attached to the overhead water tanks and generator house. Most of these communities are very rural in nature and lacking in these facilities and in dire need of potable water. You will be shocked that only in rainy season that you will see them many being favoured by the rains. But during dry season, they trek the distance of three, four kilometres to search for stream water, which may not even be potable in nature. They also have cases where you see very pathetic state of wells dug for the provision of such water. So, I just felt that I had to intervene and what was also different with it is that I provide those things and entrusted them with the people. Like we are going into the commissioning, the respective village heads of those villages are the people who will do the commissioning unlike the traditional style where you use governors or political leaders.

"Tomorrow, we are going to commission the one in Onna local government, which are four. The one in Eket are equally four, Esit-Eket and Ibeno. And when we finish, we can now go into town hall meeting where we will interface with the people on my representation, government policies and programmes and issues of governance, which of course the people will be interested to know how representation is affecting them. I am also using the period to now give account of my mid-term.

"In addition to the water project, I have trained 32 youths of the constituency in wielding and fabrication and instrumentation in Maritime Academy in Oron. For each of those kids, I pay their fees, provide tuition materials, provide hostel accommodation and provide safety kits. And for one year, I paid them ten thousand naira every month as an allowance so that they will not be bothering their parents. They have finished and they are waiting now for their certification examination, which they took this October. Also, 21 youth from the area have been sent to Songhai Farm in Amokpe in Sapele. Now, they have been trained in integrated farming and I am about disbursing money to them to start. Some are going into piggery, some are going into fish ponds and some are going into poultry and I am providing the facilities for them to start.

"We have 45 scholarship which we give to students in secondary schools. We provide them with books and make boarding compulsory for them. Even mattresses and lockers which they use in boarding houses, we also provide for them. We pay for their boarding even before the Akwa Ibom State Government declared free tuition. These people were already enjoying free tuition. And we have trained about ten teachers in collaboration with the Third Eye and Teachers Without Border. They trained them on character minding and character building education. I brought teachers from my constituency, camped them at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp at Keffi, where volunteers from the United States of America and Canada under the joint partnership with the Initiatives come to partner with us. These teachers were trained and they are also in turn now training the 45 students on scholarship on this matter in schools around my constituency.

"From the constituency project of government, the massive water and library project at Ibeno, the MDGs awarded these contracts about July. The contractors took over the sites and they provided just 15 per cent of the money to go ahead and do the jobs, which were not enough. So, I brought 70 per cent of the money added to the 15 per cent and those projects have been completed. What have I achieved? Now, most people are complaining that most contractors have abandoned the sites because of non-payment, but my contractors are handing over the sites. You saw the water and library projects. I gave out money to these contractors to complete them because when it's completed, it's for the benefit of my constituency. So, next year, while people will be looking forward for the completion of those projects to move them forward, I will be looking for new projects to do. So, there are various ways I am trying to intervene by collaborating with the people.

So, each time we have what we call 'The Right I Need To Know,' which is a kind of town hall meeting model where the people will discuss their needs and then from there, I will now build it into whatever thing I am doing," declared.

The people expressed utmost appreciation to the lawmaker for his commitment to the wellbeing of his constituents. One of them is Emmanuel Udoh, the executive Chairman of Eket Local Government Area. He said: "I want to thank God in the first place for giving us a good representative in the person of Hon. Eseme Eyiboh at the federal House of Representatives and for giving him the ability, the love and the spirit of giving because without having the spirit of giving, he would not have thought about his people. Let me here say a big thank you to you sir, for giving this community this water. I believe that God who took you there will continue to do his good work in you to serve the people. We as the local government representatives here are doing our best in a supportive capacity to ensure that the people of the grassroots are taken care of in this way and some other ways. Thank you very. And may God bless you and all your entourage in Jesus name."

In the same vein, Chairman, Eket Community Development Foundation, Mr. Ephraim Enembong said Eyiboh had done well. Enmbong who said it was the tradition of the community to praise people when they don't do well, added that such people are told plainly that they have not achieved anything. He described Eyiboh as a true representative of his people, saying in his constituency, "we have seen a lot of projects he has brought to us; I mean personal projects that he has done with his money. It has never happened. This man has been a man of the grassroots and he still remains a man of the grassroots any time any day. I want to say Eseme is one man who picks your call any time, unlike others when they are elected, who refuse calls.

Also speaking, Community Women Leader in Onna Local Government Area, Mrs. Beatrice Akpan said the community was enjoying wonderful representation from Hon. Eyiboh. She said for once, he has really projected their image nationally and internationally. She also described him as the voice of the House of Representatives who has been recognised and whose glory "comes to us as a people because he is representing us at the National Assembly. For us here, he has affected lives, not just the lives of the women but the lives of our youth also."

The women leader added that from the secondary school, he has sponsored so many children to really come up and be better citizens adding that he has also affected the lives of the poor, the indigent children, people with talents, who never anybody "to push them. But he has come up to not only to support these people, but to expose them to progress. Wherever he is, once in a while, he will invite his people to Abuja to make inputs on some of his decisions. Some of us are not opportuned to be going to Abuja, but through him, we now go to Abuja quite often. When he comes home, he calls people and interact with them and he reaches out to people both financially and materially. There is no time you will go him with a problem that he doesn't intervene on your behalf. He cannot really help directly. He will advise. So, he is somebody that has touched lives and I thank God for giving us somebody like him."