How Gov. Eno’s Benevolence For Emem Victor Shapes my life
By Solomon Essiet
I can’t remember the last time I shed tears for another person’s story. But what happened on Friday, December 19, 2025, did made me cry. I cried it all as I couldn’t held back my tears. Not out of weakness, but out of brokenness, as an eye witness to how sheer determination, resilience and commitment, can turnaround the destiny of a young man. It was the day Governor Eno redeemed the promise of 10 Million Naira he made to Mr. Emem Victor Akpan and 5 Million Naira to the mother, Madam Mfon Udoka, after Emem presented him with a gift at his Country home during the November home going event.
On that fateful day, I had a meeting with one of my colleagues, Mr. Tony Udoh off Government House, that was in the morning. We were still anticipating the arrival of our Boss, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, later in the evening. Right there, Tony mentioned a particular assignment to be carried out at the Government House Press Center, on behalf of His Excellency, around 12noon. I asked if I could join him and he noded affirmatively. That was how I accompanied him to the venue of the brief meeting.
Getting to the venue, it turned out not just to be a meeting, but presentation of a whopping sum of 15 Miilion Naira to one Mr. Emem Victor Akpan and his mother, by Governor Eno, through the Special Assistant to the Governor on Humanitarian Affairs, Hon. Nsikanabasi Umoekpo. I was wondering what he did to deserve the huge amount of money as an intervention by the Governor. But, by the time I listened to their story, I couldn’t help, but admired the spirit of resilience and doggedness the young man possessed.
According to Mr. Emem Victor Akpan, the first beneficiary, sometimes around 2019, when he was a year one undergraduate of Mechanical Engineering, at Akwa Ibom State University, he once gatecrashed into an ongoing event at one of the School Halls he described as old auditorium. To his chagrin, he discovered that a well dressed, tall, and handsome man was addressing his fellow Students, and he decided to pay attention to the man too, since that was his free period. That man happened to be Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, now, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State. The young man narrated that what he heard from Pastor Umo Eno, changed his life completely, and he decided to face life with every sense of commitment and focus required for him to succeed in life.
Speaking to his young audience, Pastor Umo Eno had said in Akwa Ibom dialect, “Toiyo nanga Ufok Akeba”, meaning, “Remember how the House were, when you left”. According to Mr. Emem, those few words strucked him so hard, as though the man was directing the advice to him. He got home that day and couldn’t help flashing black at the unexpected encounter from the man and his message.
Then, the next year, 2020, what we knew as “COVID-19, grew steadily from a distance, until Nigerians began to feel the hit, and most businesses were shut down, including Schools and Churches, to avoid people spreading the deadly disease. Mr. Emem Victor, was home too, but his mind was busy thinking of what to do next. Inspired by the piece of advice from Pastor Umo Eno during his encounter with him at the School, he decided to go into fashion and designing training, applying his time judiciously, instead of wasting away.
Through the help of the mother, a Church member was contacted, who accepted to train Mr. Emem Victor. That is how the idea of getting trained in fashion and designing, culminated in Mr. Emem Victor, sowing styled cloths for his Church members and other neighbors alike. In no time, he started sowing professionally even after he graduated from the University.
One lesson worth learning from this story is that, even when Mr. Emem Victor took to sowing during the lockdown, he did not allow the training to distract him completely from pursuing his education to a logical conclusion. Little wonder, after his National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, he decided to continue with sowing, while believing God for a favourable job opportunity. Having made a living from the sowing business, Mr. Emem Victor, remembered the source where he drew his inspiration from, which is from Pastor Umo Eno, then as the Governor of Signature by Royalty, his hospitality business. He had a prompting from the holy spirit to make a cloth for him in appreciation. He narrated how his siblings laughed so hard at his audacious idea, asking him were he will get the Governor’s measurement and how the cloth will be delivered to him.
As God will have it, with resilience, commitment and extra strech, God made a way and he got the measurement, sowed the cloth and had a golden opportunity to deliver the cloth to Governor Eno, during the November Home Going event at the Governor’s Country Home at Ikot Ekpene Udo, Nsit Ubium Local Government Area. Narrating his motivation towards the presentation of the gift, Governor Eno, known for his act of compassion and empathy, decided to reward not just Mr. Emem Victor Akpan, but his mother too, with the sum of 10 Million Naira and 5 Million Naira, respectively. As a mark of honour for the mother, a widow, and a retired staff member of the National Population Commission, who took up the challenge of training all his children through University, in spite of the demise of her husband.
Still on my seat, I wept profusely, shedding tears of joy for the young star, whom Governor Eno has made a sudden millionaire out of his doggedness and can-do spirit. And now the lesson, “There is always a light at the end of the tunnel”. Our youth should probably stop nursing the proverbial entitlement mentality and rise up to face the challenges before them. Just like Mr. Emem Victor Akpan, they can also stoop to conquer.
I pray that the money given to Mr. Emem Victor Akpan and the mother, multiplies through a judicious application and take them out of poverty for the rest of their lives.
Arise, that same God.
Pastor Solomon Essiet, ACIA
Special Assistant on New Media to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
