APC chief, gov Emmanuel differ over govt performance

UYO—AS Akwa Ibom State Government marks 30 years of its creation, the governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has said that the state had made progress through the vision of successive administrations in the state. Gov Emmanuel Udom Emmanuel boasted that his administration had further consolidated on the strides of former governors, listing industrialization, infrastructural development, human empowerment, political inclusion and job creation as some of his achievement. But a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC and front-line 2019 governorship aspirant, Mr. Asuquo Okpo, was quick to fault the governor’s position, arguing, “The state has nothing to cheer at 30.” Okpo described Emmanuel’s claims as bogus, noting that the anniversary ceremonies that attended the event was uncalled for, given the fact that “The the state cannot justify the huge allocation it receives monthly from the federation account.” Speaking in an interview in Uyo,  Okpo said, “The state government may be right to celebrate God’s  gift of life to the people as there is nothing impressive to celebrate after the over 18 years of People’s Democratic Party, PDP, governance in the state.” He pointed out that “The state has consistently remained the highest revenue earner from the federation account for over 10 years with nothing commensurate to show for the huge capital inflow. Most our people sleep without food most of the nights. There is hunger everywhere. The state can only boast of a few fly-over which had not impacted on the life of ordinary citizen of the state. Emmanuel, continuing, said in the past two years, the state has added more to the growth indices with various interventions to make the state an investors’ haven. He pointed that “With the massive infrastructural turnaround and the industrialization drive gradually taking shape, Akwa Ibom State of our dream will soon be established.” He stated that the enabling environment so far created by his administration had attracted hundreds of Foreign Direct Investments, FDIs, with many jobs created for the youths in agriculture and other sectors of the State’s economy. But Okpo described the claims as bogus, noting that the anniversary ceremonies that attended the event was uncalled for, given the fact that “The the State cannot justify the huge allocation it receives monthly from the federation account.” Speaking in an interview in Uyo,  Okpo said, “The state government may be right to celebrate God’s  gift of life to the people as there is nothing impressive to celebrate after the over 18 years of People’s Democratic Party, PDP, governance in the state.” He pointed out that “The state has consistently remained the highest revenue earner from the federation account for over 10 years with nothing commensurate to show for the huge capital inflow. Most our people sleep without food most of the nights. There is hunger everywhere. The state can only boast of a few fly-over which had not impacted on the life of ordinary citizen of the state. “The people of the state can only celebrate 30 years of survival as a state.  God has kept us together as a state for all these years but there is nothing to show for the huge allocation to Akwa Ibom State. “We can celebrate life, but administratively, there is no deliberate government policy plans to move the state forward. The major thing is to provide the three basic necessities of life, those are the essence of governance. If  you as a journalist have seen anything to celebrate, that’s okay, but as positive minded people of the state, we have not seen anything to make us celebrate.”