As part of activities heralding Constituency briefing and Empowerment, yesterday, Saturday, December 18, 2021, the mouthpiece of the prestigious people of Ikot Ekpene/Obot Akara at the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Prince) Idongest Ntepkere, visited and donated football apparels,nay, accessories to Ikot Ekpene United Football Club.

The quintessential lawmaker, at the Ikot Ekpene Township stadium donated forty (40) pairs of boots, forty (40) balls, a hundred (100) training apparels and two (2) sets of jerseys to the team worth over two million naira, all imported and FIFA standardized.

His Constituency briefing and empowerment programme is scheduled to take place tomorrow Monday, 20th December 2021 at the Martha Udom Women Development Center, Ekokebe Avenue, Ikot Ekpene by 10am.

Whilst addressing the Team, the former player of Mobil Pegasus Football Club, implored the management and players to revive and sustain, the renowned historical exploits of football legends from Ikot Ekpene (1951). He eulogized the laudable feats of Kofine FC (1976), Raffia City FC and inspired the lads by reminding them of the legacies of the Ekarikas, Udo-Idungs, Etokebes...

An array of football personalities, led by Chief Uko Akpabio, President, The Great Football Family, Ikot Ekpene Allstars Family, Comrade Etido Inyang, Chairman Ikot Ekpene Football Association, Mr. Samuel Ukut, Principal, of Obot Akara/Ikot Ekpene Partnership Project, and stakeholders were in attendance, to witnessed the human capacity development and youth friendly empowerment.

In his reaction, the pioneer Team Manager of the famous Kofine Football Club, Akparawa Christopher Eshiet (a.k.a Jeno) appreciated the gesture of the cerebral lawmaker and implored the team to make good use of the donations.

Encouragingly, the Chairman of the Central Planning Committee of Rt. Hon. Idongest Ntepkere's Empowerment/ Upliftment Programme, Engr. Bassey Ntuen, tasked the lads not to misuse the privilege, while urging them to explore the lucrative world of football with the fundamental template put in place, by a passionate member of the football family.

It can be recalled that Ikot Ekpene (1951) has always produced notable, impressive, scintillating, and lucrative players and that record seems to have been paused.

It is believed that this gesture would go a long way in, not merely, reviving football in Ikot Ekpene LGA and its environs, but, in creating a feasible and sustainable environment, where the abundant football talents can be identified, harnessed, collated, nourished and exported within and outside the country.

#NtekpereEmpowers