…Says so much has to be put in place before transition occurs
Priscilla Akpanettot
Against frantic calls by stakeholders in the energy sector for States to migrate to clean energy, the Honorary Special Adviser to Governor Umo Eno, Hon. Aniekan Umana has averred that energy transition cannot be achieved on the spur of the moment.
He said this when he was hosted by members of the Conference of Online Publishers in Akwa Ibom State (COOPA) on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, during a live interview on Premium FM.
The former Information Commissioner and immediate past member representing Abak/Ika/Etim Ekpo Federal Constituency made the assertion on grounds that the process of transiting to clean energy was expensive, technically demanding and rigorous.
Umana who relayed the resolution of COP 15 which he attended 10 years ago, said that many country attendees of the Conference are still struggling to come to terms with what was unanimously agreed upon, due to the lack of modalities to switch. He therefore sued that fossil fuel be used alongside clean sources of energy until the former is completely phased-out.
“There’s no transition that can happen in a jiffy. There cannot be just one quick break. It’s going to be a process where we’ll remain side by side until we transit fully into clean energy. We’ll also look at the sustainability models that will allow it work and sustain the kind of power requirement that the system needs. Today, we are still benchmarking our economic development in the country on oil prices and production quota. What is still giving us money today is fossil fuel and that is crude oil. So we cannot completely say that we’re detaching... It would sound eutopic to think that because of the clamour for clean energy, we get up and say we’re transiting then we abandon our energy capability and what we can offer to the world. If we do that, how would we get 13% derivation? How would we get money to develop the State? Even in those countries that are proposing it, there’s no magical transition. What should matter to us as a country now is to make sure that our refineries work so that we reduce our importation of finished products”, he said.
Speaking on other sectors of the ARISE Agenda, the Special Adviser informed that
Agricultural Revolution, Rural Development, Infrastructural Development, Security and Education Management were components of Pastor Umo Eno's blueprint, making up the ARISE Agenda.
"The ARISE Agenda has five cardinal points and 18 sub-units under these cardinal points which the current administration lays its foundation. What Pastor Umo Eno has done is to transit the ARISE Agenda from being his document, to being a political party's document and now, to becoming a state document and the compass with which the ship of his administration would be navigating through the seas of development".
"Governor Umo Eno wants to undertake the ruralisation of governance and he is not hiding his passion. He doesn't hate urbanisation, but he says there is an inequitable distribution of infrastructure between the urban and the rural areas. So, development will be rural community-centric. It is now time to connect the rural areas to the urban areas", he noted.
For these, he applauded the State Governor for looking deep into the developmental gaps of the society and filling them with his Agenda. He further commended the Governor for keeping to his campaign promises of making his impact felt across all sectors of the State, through various human empowerment including the recent appointment of 600 aides; payment of gratuities, refurbishment of Christ the King Primary School along Wellington Bassey Way, among others.
On why he accepted the offer to be one of the Honourary Special Advisers to Governor Eno, Hon. Umana posited that he agreed to the appointment because he is in full support of the Governor, his governance of Akwa Ibom State and the ARISE Agenda. “I cannot be bigger than the government. If I am invited to participate in the governance process in any capacity that the Governor deems fit, I have a duty to honour him”, he stated.
“The role we’re privileged to play is advisory. I’m asked to play that role and I know I’m competent to offer such advise and knowledgeable enough to operate in that ecosystem”, he expressed.
He therefore promised to bring to bare his wealth of experience in his advisory role, while ensuring that strategies such as media intelligence, reputation mapping and tracking which requires indepth knowledge and contact across ecosystems within the country are effectively utilized.
In his response to why Governor Umo Eno was yet to execute a major project since the commencement of his administration, the aide explained that the Governor came into office and inherited the budget of the immediate past government, and will soon have his budget passed into Law.
"The first time the Governor is going to have his own budget and project clearly outlined and mapped out is in the 2024 Appropriation. It will come because it can only come through the instrumentality of the Law which is the Appropriation Act, the Bill will become law by 2024. So, Akwa Ibom people should exercise patience", he said.
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