As part of efforts to set Akwa Ibom State in a vantage position for a robust post-COVID-19 economy, the state government has approved the establishment of an e-Labour Data Bank to aid strategic manpower planning.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Udoh, announced this on Friday while briefing Government House correspondents at the end of the State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Udom Emmanuel at the Executive Council Chamber, Government House, Uyo.
He said that the Council has resolved to make available relevant information on indigenous manpower composition in the state for proper economic planning.
‘One of the issues we decided on was the setting up of Akwa Ibom E-Labour Data Bank, a unique Labour Information and Mailing system for the collation of data of skilled and unskilled unemployed Akwa Ibom state indigenes.
‘Data of indigenes employed in Federal Ministries, Departments And Agencies (MDAs) would also be collated. The idea here is for us to have the information at our fingertips to enable us to take economic sound decisions for the state, especially when it has to do with manpower planning,’ he explained.
Mr Udoh added that to actualise government vision of ‘Power For All By 2021Initaitive’, a list of villages and communities without electricity have been collated to enable government work towards the restoration of electricity in such communities.
He recounted that ‘the state government launched the ‘Power for All By 2021 Initiative’ during the last state anniversary and that initiative is ongoing. To fast track the initiative, today, the Council reviewed the list of communities that do not have electricity with a view to ensuring that every household in the state will be connected to the national grid.’
The commissioner, who decried the challenge of vandalisation of electrical installations, urged communities to protect public facilities in their domain, warning that other communities will not be deprived the opportunity of benefiting from such facilities in the guise of replacing vandalized installations for communities that had benefited.
‘Over the years, the challenge of government has been that transformers given to communities have been vandalized and that is why we have been calling on communities to protect their transformers because government cannot keep recycling transformers within a given community. So, if you protect your transformer and I protect my transformer, other communities will have the opportunity of having one,’ he advised.
He said that the Council also expressed concern over flooding due to blockage of roads and drains and had resolved that residents of the state should take responsibility of keeping the drains in a functional state by clearing the ones within their vicinities during environmental sanitation exercise.
Mr Udoh hinted that the meeting accorded the Council an opportunity to be updated with activities of the Ministry of Health towards mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic, review of ministerial responsibilities as well as receive updates on ongoing projects by MDAs.