Itoro Akpan-Iquot's Manifesto: Why I am Running
A vote for me means a vote for innovative, authentic, trustworthy and inclusive leadership!
"Everything rises and falls on leadership..."
- John C. Maxwell
"Leadership is solving problems..."
- Colin Powell
"Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit."
- Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric
"Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence, and inspiration."
- Robin S. Sharma, Canadian writer and motivational speaker
Equity, Transparency, Accountability
Equity:
I promise to treat all AKISAN USA chapters and her respective members fairly and impartially. I will treat you with the dignity and respect that you truly and rightfully deserve.
Radical Transparency:
I promise to run a transparent administration. Everything (finances, contracts, bids, etc.) will be open to public scrutiny. Nothing will be spared.
Accountability:
I will lead with integrity and promise to run a responsible and efficient administration, answerable to the people. To that effect, I will strongly encourage the people to hold my feet to the fire.
MY PLANS FOR AKISAN USA
This list is not final and is subject to modification. You are therefore encouraged to visit this page often.
For a better AKISAN USA, I encourage you to reach out to me with your suggestions. Together, we can take AKISAN USA to the promised land.
"100% of me is nothing compared to 1% of the entire team" - Eliud Kipchoge, record-breaking marathon runner...
I will:
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Be a Dependable Leader:
- I will be trustworthy and reliable in all things. As an active member of AKISAN both locally and nationally, I have earned the credibility of the people and can be trusted to get the job done.
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Build Relationships for AKISAN USA:
- Will work with at least one hotel chain to get an AKISAN hotel rate for all AKISAN members that will apply to not only conventions but even individual hotel stays. Will establish an account with same hotel chain from above such that all benefits for official national events (reward points, etc) will accrue to the association. Such rewards could then be reduce the financial burden on the association, relative to, for example, hotel and travel expenses the association would normally pay out-of-pocket.
- Will build relationships with airlines, car rental companies, etc. to secure discount rates for AKISAN members.
- Will work with corporate America to secure sponsorships that will help defray the cost of running our conventions.
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Be Prudent and Transparent with the Association's Money:
- As your president, I will NEVER handle donations directly.
- ALL monies donated to the association, in line with the financial manual, will be deposited into the Board of Trustee's bank acount.
- For any money needed by my administration for projects, I will ALWAYS get budgetary approval from council and submit a proposal to the Board of Trustees detailing how such money will be spent. Upon completion of such projects, a report will ALWAYS be rendered.
- International donors will be provided with the Board of Trustee's bank account information and asked to wire their donations into that account, in the event they are not comfortable with bringing such donations with them.
- In the event that as president, I have to travel anywhere for the purpose of collecting cash donations, I will ALWAYS be accompanied by the chairperson of the Board of Trustees. Consequently, I will ask that all cash donations be handed over directly to the chairperson. Pictures and/or videos will be taken as evidence and handed over to the council.
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Present Bold and Fresh Ideas:
- Empower the national council by setting up a standing project committee in charge of project approval and implementation. Projects will not be rushed to be completed every 2 years. Rather, based on a multi-year strategic plan that I will author (especially for big projects), the committee will hold future presidents responsible for completing such projects before embarking on new ones.
- Current projects like the medical mission and scholarships will be reviewed for efficiency and equity. For instance, medical missions should not always be held in the same local government areas. There are parts of the state that are yet to feel our presence. Residents of such areas end up spending what little money they have to travel to the big cities for medical assistance. We need to take the medical mission to the people, so to speak.
- AKISAN USA, in my humble opinion, would stand to benefit from ideas and projects that have already been proven to work by other Nigerian-related organizations in the United States. Such projects, often implemented in Nigeria, could be of benefit, relative to leaving a lasting legacy for the organization that generations to come will be able to point to, as something tangible that the organization has done in its 30+ years of existence. Such areas include integrated farming, hospitals, entrepreneurial programs, schools and other humanitarian projects.
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Involve the Youth:
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Our children of today will be the leaders of our association tomorrow. From my experience, the youth are willing to
serve. However, they feel discouraged from doing so based on bickering, in-fighting and not
wanting to trust them with responsibilities. They are thus trapped in a catch-22 scenario of not being “included” as they
have no “experience”. At the same time, without being given the opportunity, how do they get said experience?
I will work with the youth, encouraging their autonomy within the AKISAN USA framework.
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Our children of today will be the leaders of our association tomorrow. From my experience, the youth are willing to
serve. However, they feel discouraged from doing so based on bickering, in-fighting and not
wanting to trust them with responsibilities. They are thus trapped in a catch-22 scenario of not being “included” as they
have no “experience”. At the same time, without being given the opportunity, how do they get said experience?
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Run AKISAN USA Efficiently:
- Meetings and other time-sensitive events will start no more than 15 minutes from the official start time.
- Will build relationships with various organizations that already specialize in areas of interest so we aren't always doing things from scratch. This will help us save money.
- Will conduct new council member orientation sessions at council meetings so that such members will be better informed about the association.
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Digitize AKISAN USA:
- Will set up a national database of AKISAN members that all chapter presidents will have access to, for their respective chapters. Such a database will help with logistics and planning.
- Will ensure that in my 2 years, at least 90% of payments to AKISAN USA are done online. This will help in the areas on transparency and accountability.
- Will diversify how we solicit for donations.
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Push for Relevant Constitutional Amendments:
- Council is the law-making body of the organization. Power should be vested in the council and council alone. To that effect, I will support an amendment to allow council to appoint a Chairperson who will speak for the council. Currently, there is a chapter president's forum. It needs to be codified. This position will be rotated among the chapter presidents.
- The way we vote for national presidents needs to be revisited. Currently, chapters vote at the local level then send delegates to vote the will of their chapter at the convention. Why vote twice? Just as is the case with the United States elections, delegates should just formalize what has already taken place at the chapter level.