For many who have heard about Senator Bassey Albert Àkpan, popularly called OBA by his supporters, the story may have either begun or ended with his human capacity development disposition.
From his days as a young banker, Mr Bassey Albert, as he was known then in his small cubicle, was known for always assisting young people with tall dreams with his personal money. That was even before he grew up to an officer and was able to process and approve loans for young customers who had genuine needs to develop themselves either in businesses or other endeavors.
After so many successful years in the banking sector, where he rose to the position of the Vice President of FCMB , he was appointed into the State Executive Council in 2007 by His Excellency Godswill Akpabio, the then Governor of our dear State. During his tenure as the Commissioner for Finance, OBA was also appointed the chairman of Interministerial Director Labour Coordinating Committee and because of his prudent management of the State funds he was given the free hands to manage the billions of naira that was invested in that Committee by his then Boss. He used that opportunity to turn Akwa Ibom boys to men by awarding them interventionist jobs to execute and make money to develop themselves and become self reliance. That is a testimony that’s still fresh in the minds of those beneficiaries and their families. Since OBA left that office, not much has been heard about it again.
In 2015 after he stepped down from vying for the office of Governor, he was elected to represent his Uyo Senatorial district constituents in the Red Chamber in Abuja . As his inherent character of human capacity development could not be suppressed, he initiated the first-of-its-kind all free scholarship program for Akwa Ibom students, where complete school fees and allowances are paid by him to the beneficiaries at the beginning of every semester. That is a program that has seen over 481 students from the 31 Local government Areas of the State through different tertiary institutions. So far, it has produced 28 First class graduates, a feat no one has dared in the state.
In 2019 the senator organized what the current Governor Udom Emmanuel termed “the mother of all empowerments” at the Uyo township stadium, where items worth billions of naira ranging from cars, buses , mini-buses , tricycles , sewing machines, hair driers , clippers , generating sets and others were shared to over 3000 constituents from the three senatorial districts of the State.
Between 2015 to date Sen OBA has trained about one thousand people living with disabilities (LWD) and has given them starter packs and other mobility aides like wheel chairs. So far, many of them have become employers of labour .
Early this year (2022) when Senator Bassey Albert established the Ifa Ikot Àkpan Civic Center, he initiated an ICT training for some Akwa Ibom youths. After the training, he paid them 300,000 (three hundred thousand naira) each to take the ICT examination certification. It amounted to about N15million ( fifteen million naira ).
Now, the Senator is at it again. He has organized another one month training which started from September 1, 2022 and will last till September 30, 2022. The one month long training was advertised on major radio stations and other media platforms for interested citizens of the State . A visit to the center has revealed that about 80 participants have already enrolled in the free training which ranges from Web Designing and Hosting, Desktop and Mobile App Development, ICT, Graphics and Animation , Application Programming , Cyber Securty, amongst others.
The participants were in high spirit and those who spoke with us appreciated Senator OBA for the opportunities given to them. While praying God to make OBA the next governor, so he can do more for the downtrodden, they vowed to support his governorship mission through YPP and its leaves symbols.
