Akwa Ibom gov clarifies ‘Happy Hour’ comment

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has dismissed suggestions that his much-discussed “Happy Hour” comment was about government-sponsored drinking, insisting the phrase was misinterpreted

Appearing on Arise Television on Friday, Eno clarified what he intended when he first used the expression.

“I think it was taken completely out of context. Happy hour is, I believe, that if you work hard, you must find time occasionally to relax. Like today, I’ve been working since Sunday back-to-back till Friday.

“And I said today, I just want to relax. I want to go to the Arise Park, spend time, and look at what’s going on. That, for me, is my happy hour. Just time to refresh, to relax. And it wasn’t really meant to be time to go get drunk.”

The governor stressed that relaxation and celebration take many forms and are not necessarily linked to alcohol. He rejected insinuations that the state was funding such outings.“Every time you have an achievement and you celebrate, that’s happy hour. You have happy hour in church. You have happy hour everywhere.”

Responding to online claims that his administration had allocated N18 billion to “happy hour,” Eno said he was taken aback.“What kind of happy hour is that? I don’t know. I don’t have such subhead in my budget.”

He laughed off the controversy, accepting the host’s playful description of him as the “happy governor.”“I am happy. And we all seem to be a happy state. We are happy people,” he added.

Eno’s clarification follows renewed public debate over his campaign promise of a “happy hour” during the 2023 election, a phrase that quickly became a talking point. He has now reiterated that no such budget line exists in the state’s finances.