The Apostolic Church Nigeria, Uyo Field – Akwa Ibom State Territory has honoured Mr. Udom Inoyo with the “Beacon of Light” award at their 2019 Distinguished Public Officers Thanksgiving & Appreciation Service.
The service which was held at the church headquarters at Obio Imo street, Uyo, with the theme “You are the light of the world: shine on”, saw the recognition of great Akwa Ibom sons and daughters with the “Beacon of Light” award category given to personalities such as Sen. J. J. Akpan Udoedehe, Sen. Ita James Enang, Obong Paul Ekpo among others.
Mr. Inoyo was represented at the event by an Associate Professor of Mathematics in the University of Uyo, Dr. Enobong Joshua.
Mr. Inoyo is a lawyer, administrator, and an accomplished professional in the oil and gas sector, with a track record of outstanding leadership in community service and advocacy. He holds a B.Sc degree in Political Science (1981) and LL.B in Law (1987) from the University of Calabar and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988. He is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School and Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona, USA. In the course of his almost 35 years of working life, 30 of which have been in the oil and gas sector, Mr Inoyo has attended as well as led several management and leadership programmes.
He enjoys speaking on the subject of Leadership and Integrity, Human capacity development and Business Ethics. His adeptness in those subjects is a result of his all-around experience and proven ability across various echelons of leadership and management positions.
Mr Inoyo is a very consummate professional who is synonymous with value creation. He is not one of those who got to where they are, by sheer reason of who they knew.
His journey to the top has been an unmitigated product of commitment, dedication, honesty, hard work and tenacity. He started very early when he joined the service of Cross River state government as an Administrative Officer. His stark diligence and absolute willingness to learn saw him working in many important committees and departments of the Ministry of Works, such as the Central Contractors Registration Board, Tenders Board and the Essential Commodities Distribution Committee, and later in the Cabinet Office.
In 1986, he was assigned to the Cross River State Liaison Office, Lagos, as Administrative officer, and remained in that role until the creation of Akwa Ibom state in 1987. As one of the very few senior officers of Akwa Ibom origin, Inoyo had the onerous responsibility of managing the office during the transition phase with the responsibility of providing onboarding support to the pioneer Governor, then, Colonel Tunde Ogbeha.
Joining Mobil producing Nigeria in 1989, his penchant for hard work earned him an assignment to Mobil Exploration and Production, USA, as a Human Resources Advisor, in New Orleans, supporting the Gulf of Mexico business. Between 2000 and 2001, he had further assignments, both in ExxonMobil Inter-America Inc., Coral cables, Florida and the ExxonMobil office in Houston, Texas, before relocating to Brussels as Compensation Advisor in the Europe, Africa and Middle East Center of Expertise. Upon return to Nigeria, Mr Inoyo was appointed General Manager, External Relations in 2002, with responsibility for Government, Community, and Media Relations for all ExxonMobil affiliates in Nigeria.
In 2004, he was appointed into the Board of Mobil Producing Nigeria as Executive Director and became the In-Country Human Resources Manager in 2006. He is currently the Vice-Chairman of ExxonMobil companies in Nigeria. Over the years, Inoyo has utilized his vast experiences to pioneer and promote initiatives in Oil & Gas Project Resourcing, Oil Industry Advocacy and Influencing, Management and Public Policy Advocacy.
Mr Udom Inoyo is a humanitarian with a deep passion for education, human capacity development and community service. Worried by the declining standard of education in Nigeria and his state of origin, Akwa Ibom, in particular, Mr Inoyo in 2007 inspired the establishment of Inoyo Toro Foundation, in response to the need for private sector involvement in the education sector. The Foundation has been leveraged to advance the recognition of teachers in Public Secondary School as well as mentor students in Akwa Ibom state. In 2014, he opened a library in his village at Ikot Okoro Ubium, as an ancillary learning facility for secondary school students outside their classroom experience. He also ensure the construction of four classroom blocks and a staff office in 2006, at the Four Towns Primary School, which accommodates pupils from four villages in his community.
He was a guest speaker in the 2014 Convocation of the University of Uyo. He also supported the start-up of the International Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability Research (ICEESR), in the university in 2015.
Mr Inoyo’s commitment to community service is second to none. He has made several attempts in his private capacity, using personal funds to empower, develop and build the capacity of the people from his community and others in general; using his position and relationship with top government functionaries to attract several projects to his community, one of which is the road in his village. He was also the first to influence electricity distribution in his village as far back as the late-80s.
Concerned about the untoward state of the local economy of the rural women, Mr Udom Inoyo in 2004 attracted the establishment of a cassava mill, palm fruit mill and poultry farms under the Integrated Community Development Programme (ICDP) in his community.
He further empowered a lot of youths and women in the area of skills acquisition by setting up and sponsoring an empowerment programme for various skills such as welding, electrical repairs, plumbing, bricklaying, aluminum, fashion design, generator repairs and maintenance among others with beneficiaries that spread across other communities in Nsit Ubium and the state. Over 60 Akwa Ibom youths and women have benefited from the programme; and as a result, they have been able to marry, provide for their families, build houses, own vehicles and meet other material needs.
He assisted his community to attract clean, available and potable water, halting them from trekking a long distance to fetch water from streams by ensuring the installation of a water plant which is still servicing the people since 2003 till date.
Mr Inoyo has assisted a lot of graduates who were seeking for jobs to cater for themselves and families in a systemic employment plan that has seen to the employment of many youths from his community in private companies, international corporations, ministries and departments in addition to influencing some political appointments in their favour.
As a genuine Christian, the church in his community is not left out of his humanitarian gesture. He has also impacted the lives of the Church and women in his community. He is the major financier of the Qua Oboe, Ikot Okoro Ubium and has empowered a good number of women in the church with a substantial amount of money for startups. His humanitarian service has also been extended to the women in his community who have benefited from his financial empowerment and continuous goodwill in their lives, in the last one decade.
Mr Udom Inoyo has sustained silent empowerment initiatives and utmost goodwill in his community over the years. His philosophy is anchored on the fact that, charitable works should not go along with publicity stunts and media display.
He is a past Chairman of Public & Government Affairs and Human Resources Committees of the Oil Producers Trade Sector (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries; a distinguished Service Awardee of the Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt; Member, Institute of Directors of Nigeria (IoD); Member, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio and is a Paul Harris Fellow. In recognition of his leadership role and promotion of corporate governance in the workplace, Mr Udom Inoyo was in 2013 honoured by ExxonMobil Cooperative Society with the naming of a 100 Units Housing Estate located at Ajah, Lagos state, called the “INOYO HAVEN”, after him.
Having previously served as Chairman of her Strategic and Policy Implementation committee, and later Vice President, Mr Inoyo was in April 2017, elected the President and Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM). He is the Coordinator of the Emerging Leaders Academy of the Ikoyi Baptist Church, Lagos – a forum established to prepare the young ones for leadership roles.
Mr Udom Uko Inoyo is Married to Ntekpe, and they are blessed with 4 children: Itoro, Aniekan, Mfoniso and Samuel.
