When A Town Square Hits Home

When A Town Square Hits Home

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By Clement Warrie
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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, is a cat with nine lives. In the run-up to the last presidential election, a malicious deepfake video showing him struggling to articulate his thoughts had many people confounded. The manipulated soundbite “A town hall different from balablu,” intended to portray the man as unfit for office, was the singular and most damaging political sabotage in history. It is my opinion that the president deserves a national apology for that.

But on March 8, 2025, another “Town Hall” would take on a more positive connotation across the media space when Governor Umo Eno and the people of Abak Federal Constituency, made up of Abak, Etim Ekpo, and Ika, LGAs converged for a participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) otherwise called, a Town Hall Meeting. The first first of its kind in an election off-season.

It must be noted, that in no part of Nigeria’s history does the great masquerade of power appear less formidable and stripped of its fearsome reputation as it does in Akwa Ibom State. There’s no room for debate on this; the Town Hall (which later transformed into a town square as the hall could no longer accommodate the large turn out of participants) initiative of Governor Umo Eno in the ten Federal Constituencies of Akwa Ibom, has proven that power, in the hands of a good man is kind, humane, accessible and capable of endearing the people to government.

This in fact, is the first time, leadership had taken flight from air-conditioned comfort, to commune with people in the rural communities; to feel their pulse and listen to their concerns. The lesson here is humbling, commendable and ingenious. People have said this is democracy infused with the soul and spirit of African Ubuntu.

To be sure, many government policies and programs face bureaucratic inertia and a lack of follow-through. This exposes a grave concern, which is that policies made in executive chambers no matter how well intentioned, often end up as a solution in search of a problem.

But the town hall engagement with the grassroots is an antidote to this, allowing a leader to move beyond the “what” of a problem and understand the “why” and the “how” from those who experience it daily.

At the inaugural town hall event in Abak Governor Umo Eno said. “I want to be remembered as the Governor who brought governance to the rural areas. I want to be remembered as the governor who interacted with the rural communities so they too can smell the fragrance of government. They can have good schools, good roads, good hospitals. They can have water, they can have basic necessities of life.”

He stated further: “We want to support small medium scale enterprises. These small businesses are the engine of the economy. These are the small traders, farmers, those people that have their handwork. Those are the people that help the economy, they employ two or three people and they provide food for their homes. We must support them. I know what you are doing and we will keep supporting you,” Governor Eno said.

So far, the town square experiment of Governor Umo Eno has resulted in massive disbursements of several billions of Naira to farmers, fish and livestock farmers, traders, MSME’s, equipment support to craftsmen, purchasing of minibuses, and cars to different beneficiaries across the state.

There is a background to this success. Governor Eno’s Town Hall engagement is not conceptually isolated. A deeper look at the model reveals a cultural connection. For instance, in Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece, THINGS FALL APART, solutions to wars, peace justice were wrought at the village square. When war loomed between Umofia and Mbaino, it was at the village square that a vital decision was taken to offer a virgin to Umuofia as a peace deal.

In Rwanda, there is Umuganda, a monthly community meeting which brings local leaders and citizens together to discuss development projects and resolve community conflicts. This grassroots engagement acknowledges a simple truth, that people are the sources of the solution.

The great political scientist Robert Putnam once argued that civic engagement creates the “social capital” that enable societies to function effectively. He posited that, much like a physical capital, it must be built and maintained.

As the Town Hall Meeting wound down in Etinan Federal Constituency, the constituency of Governor Umo Eno, one thing stands out; Governor Umo Eno has not only fulfilled a campaign promise, but has made a monumental investment in the social capital of Akwa Ibom State. He has changed the very game of governance, proving that the Town Hall approach to governance when applied with sincerity, can create the most impact.

Clement Warrie writes from Nsit Ubium.