Her Excellency, Dr. (Mrs.) Martha Udom Emmanuel wife of the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Mr Udom Emmanuel. Through her compassionate demeanour, God-fearing heart and innate belief in the wellbeing of humanity she has used her office to advance the course of the less privileged and vulnerable people in our society.

Over the years, she has brought a sunny disposition to the indigent and the forlorn, giving hope to the hopeless, succour to the destitute thereby giving them assurance that there is hope at the end of the tunnel.
Through the instrumentality of her Non-Governmental Organization: Family Empowerment and Youth Re-orientation Path Initiative (FEYReP), she has clearly amplified the profoundly inspiring proclamation of the one-time British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher  that “if you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” Her Excellency, Dr. (Mrs.) Martha Udom Emmanuel is a living testimony of that Thatcherian invocation.

Through FEYReP, she has ignited in our youth a new sense of faith predicated on the Dakkadaphilosophy which challenges citizens to tap into their inherent gifts and talents and use them to rise to the faith of greatness. She has also accentuated family values based on sound moral conduct for a better society.
Being fully aware of the debilitating menace of early childhood pregnancy and the negative effects such could have on the overall development of the girl child, she has taken up this issue with messianic zeal, winning plaudits and accolades across the National and International space.

Through the “Girls Uphold your Dignity programme”, she has provided sexual education to young girls who may otherwise have become vulnerable to early pregnancy and instilled in them a sense of self-dignity. Rape, a social menace that has traumatized many young girls is an issue she has handled with remarkable enthusiasm. Taking cognizance of the societal pressure the boy-child is equally faced with, Dr. Martha Emmanuel has also inaugurated a Boy-child campaign in the state tagged “Bright Future for Responsible Boys.” This is a platform where primary and secondary school boys are mentored against indulging in vices such as cultism, rape, premarital relationship and drug abuse. According to her, “we cannot be raising the girl-child to uphold her dignity while the boy-child is left unattended to, it would imply that our work is incomplete.”

Denzel Washington, an American actor once said, “Show me a successful individual and I’ll show you someone who has had real positive influence in their lives”. Therefore, FEYRePcreated and championed a mentoring program tagged “Follow the Star” which offers steady support, hope, wise counselling and guidance, to our young ones to develop their academic and professional skills as well as uncover their talent potentials to help them succeed in their future endeavours. So far the idea has yielded positive results as about 6000 students have been reached and mentored.

She has provided health and nutritional education as well as delivery kits to pregnant women and cash grants to multiple birth families through her pregna-care and multiple birth outreach programme.
With the drive to give the women folk a better business environment to trade, FEYReP has a project tagged ‘Market Remodelling’ were several markets are remodelled with open, lock up stalls, and slaughter within the three senatorial districts of the state.

Education, they say, is priceless. Therefore FEYReP’s ‘Back- to –School’ program is focused on re-kitting school children with personal effects and stationery to better prepare them for the school year. It has been observed that children who are without basic school kits have confidence issues to the point of impacting their overall academic performance. We have also given over 195 scholarships to undergraduates and an additional student’s support / grants to over 426 students at the secondary and tertiary levels. We have also built a refectory and kitchen at the Special Education centre for children with a population of over 100 as part of my effort to support and encourage a conducive environment for learning.

To further raise successful families, she launched “Get a Skill” programme; this is geared towards empowering female youth across the state with entrepreneurial skills for self-reliance.
Her “Shelter of Hope” programme has helped built 62 houses and counting for widows and other economically disadvantaged men and women. She has further extended her philanthropy to the inmates of Uyo prisons by building an ultra-modern kitchen facility.

With the “Right to Rise” programme, the physically challenged are not left out in FEYReP’s programs as there is ability in every disability. Over 2000 of them have been empowered with financial grants for businesses as well as packages such as Braille paper , wheel chairs and the gesture is on-going.
Health they say is wealth. There is no gainsaying therefore that a healthy citizenry makes a productive workforce. To this end, FEYReP has made significant progress in contributing to the reduction of several leading causes of death and diseases within Akwa Ibom population by undertaking a yearly medical intervention program for indigent members of our communities such as Eye Restoration Scheme (Eyeris) reaching over 15,000 persons, Mass Deworming exercise with over 48,520 children, and Free Surgical Care with 6,468 beneficiaries. As a result, life expectancy has increased significantly.

Other health interventions include; a baby born without anus had anus reconstructive surgery while 4 babies born without genital organs had genital reconstructive surgery. Free Goitre jawbone re-constructive surgery was offered to 4 Patients, 4 corrective surgeries for people of bone malformation at Ukana Iba, 6 youths between the ages of 21-28 have received surgery for brain tumour, while a Primary Health Centre was built at Obio Akpa in OrukAnam local government area.

To complement the government’s effort in healthcare delivery, we therefore make donations of equipment and consumables to the following health centres: Aka Ekpenme, St. Theresa Hospital, Use Abat and Handmaid Hospital, Ikot Ambang all in Ibiono Ibom local government area, Methodist Hospital, ItukMbang in Uruan, General Hospital, Iquita in Oron, Central School of Nursing, Ikot Ekpene, Primary Health Centre, Ikot Etok-Udo in Abakand Leprosy Hospital, Ekpene Obo in EtinanLocal Government Areas. This goal is to support and strengthen public healthcare system in our communities.
The latest in her list of accomplishment is the “FEYReP Multi-purpose Cooperative Society”; she uses this platform to disburse interest free loans for the rural women to boost their businesses. The growing population of unemployment in our society places additional burden on women and their families. When women do not have access to sustainable incomes, their families and children are at an increased risk of falling into poverty. The children may not also have access to quality education that can expand their options for social and political interactions. FEYReP has reached out to over 10,000 rural women across the three senatorial districts.

Worthy of note is her passion and zeal to bring to an end all forms of sexual and gender based violence in the state. This zeal has attracted more responsibilities to her coffers as she has been appointed the chairperson, State gender based violence Management committee with the blue print to proffer solutions on how to stop all forms of GBV in the State.

Her Excellency, Dr (Mrs) Martha Emmanuel has received several recognitions from International, National and State Organisations. She is a devout Christian and is blessed with lovely children.