ORMAN ESIN – THE DREAMER COMMISSIONER

This one is different o. As I made my move into Uyo in Akwa Ibom on the back of my new production, one name kept coming up on everybody’s lips. Have you seen Orman, everybody asked? He is the man. He is the Honourable Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Akwa Ibom but he is more than that. Finally, the meeting was set in his Mobil Estate in Uyo and I went with my brother Eteka for it. He came down in white singlet and joggers tired from the previous day’s journey to see his mum. She was bereaved, and she is Yoruba but has lived over 60 years in Calabar. Orman didn’t wait for me. He flew in straight into his pet project IFLEX. I was amazed. It is an app that carried stuff like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and other services like food vendor, real estate, entertainment etc.

This was mad. I sat glued and listened to how he came about the vision and the multiple streams of income that the app will generate. The figures were humongous, leading to direct impact on wealth and job creation, reflating the economy nationally and empowering youths. Even without publicity and with it still being work in progress, over 30,000 people had already subscribed. I was staring at a soon-to-be tech billionaire. My mouth was open in amazement as I sat on his dining table listening to him speak with the passion and vigour of a dreamer who was pushing his dream to a realization. He is smart, young and gregarious. When he said, I am not talking to you as a politician but as a dreamer and a businessman, I believed. I wanted to just kneel and say to him, ‘Lord take me and do whatever you need.’ Orman’s vision will crystalize and rapidly open up the markets if the figures I saw that day are anything to go by. Well done, my Akwa Ibom brother from a Yoruba mother, the sky is yours. Mbok.