With all sense of humility and utmost respect to you all, I am Engr. Agim Ikwen, from Okorshie Village in Obudu, and born into the Ikwens family. I am the House of Representatives candidate on People’s Redemption Party platform for Obudu/Bekwarra/Obanliku Federal Constituency. I am a graduate of Electrical and Electronics Engineering from The Federal University of Technology, Owerri. Since my grad
uation in 1994/95 session, my focus has been to actively work to contribute to the development of people, society and myself. During Youth Service in Kano, I set up the machinery that stopped the spread of cholera in 4 States - Kano, Katsina, Bauchi and Jigawa states
This won me the admiration of Ado Bayero, then Emir of Kano, who made me 6 babariga, gave me land and requested the military governor, Brig. Oneya to give me automatic employment in Kano State Government. My stay in Kano was not appealing to my family members and was short lived. I was moved to Lagos by my Uncle, High Chief Eugene Akeh and by his effort, I landed in a UNDP project. I participated in a project that covered West and Central Africa, building software and deploying weather monitoring systems. I later joined the Federal Civil Service and worked across Ministries of Aviation, Industry and the Presidency. I was a pioneer staff in Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, where I worked in the department of planning and statistics. While there, I was assigned to study and report on how Asia and Europe developed. The countries I studied include China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Italy and Greece. This study opened my eyes to so much and connected me with a lot of people all over the world. I developed a programme that was to employ 60,000 graduates the first year, increasing by 50% every year until a threshold of One Million young people was reached. President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who immediately upon interviews approved the project and gave $5 million as seed to the project. I expect to be questioned about the fate of this project as we go along. I left NIPC in 2001 to work briefly in ECOWAS as a project consultant and in 2002, I was engaged by the Defence Intelligence Agency as a consultant to build their ICT infrastructure. In 2005, while struggling with some business venture, I was appointed into the Aviation Committee which was responsible to develop the unified aviation communications platform under the project name, AVINET. The journey took me through work with Thales to develop and deploy what we have as Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria today
I developed and deployed and terminated the Nigerian radar system in Lisbon, London, Atlanta, Beijing and Johannesburg. I later went to India to take courses in information security, where I became certified as information security consultant. This certification required me to work in a security outfit to gain practical experience. While working in the Mumbai police department for 3 months before final certification, I took interest in how India developed the ICT revolution. I then went to the Ecospace and received lectures on how they did it. I had an opportunity to put my development skills and knowledge to the test in South Africa, where I built female developers with 65% success rate. Back in Cross River State, I have made several attempts to implement some of my ideas without getting adequate opportunities. On my part, some lack of patience played roles towards those failures. I finally got opportunity in Akwa Ibom State to test my capacity in Nigeria. This has largely succeeded and got me an award of recognition from the governor on my contribution to the growth the business community in Akwa Ibom State. My last major assignment was with World Bank. Where I developed the West and Central Africa Air Safety and Security System under the program itself. Did I ever fail? If I recount my failures, you would be tempted to ask what planet I would have come from. Those experiments and resources I laid down are not wasted. I could quit and just get some nicely paying job, but I didn’t. What has kept me going has been God (with all thanks and praise), who has helped me to navigate the stormy waters until this moment. Failures sharpened me in so many ways and made me more resolute about finding solutions to society problems and poverty. Today, I can proudly say, I AM READY to lead us to a great level of capacity and development. After so many failures however, I have successfully partnered with my Indian friends to build a Multi-Billion ICT Infrastructure company accredited by the Nigerian authorities. You may check the website: https://www.webguru.ng. This year saw me winning an award in the Internet Community amongst people I would hardly rub shoulders with. The development side of my journey is what places me on advantage against other candidates. I believe there are lots of other experiences and adventures I have that will benefit us. Though I have demonstrated technical abilities which awed people over and again, my dependence for success lies primarily within God’s wisdom. My vision is from God and my mission is built on God’s principles. Why am I running? That is simple. We stand a greater chance of achieving our goal of rapid development with me. I intend to use government access to implement all my experiences and capabilities for the benefit of the people. I have tested my knowledge and experience and ready to deploy it for my people. My method is simple, people focus. When the people prosper, they will be happy and we will achieve the rapid development which we sorely desire. I have what it takes to turn our situation around within 2 years. My solutions are practical and measurable. My Campaign is to not be sensational but to awaken your sensibilities and show you the best way forward. My campaign is to tell you that we need each other to succeed both at the polls and in the office. By the grace of God, we shall not miss it. We shall conquer. Once again, I am Agim Ikwen, I stand with you! Long live the people of Obudu/Bekwarra/Obanliku, Long live Nigeria!
