A one-time General Manager of Akwa Ibom State Newspaper Corporation, Udo Silas has described the industrialization policy of the government as a ruse.
Industrialisation policy forms part of its major thrusts of the state government. On September 23, 2017, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo inaugurated Syringe Manufacturing Company and Metering Company in Onna local government area.
But speaking on Planet 101.1 FM Radio, Uyo under Team Nigeria, a programme sponsored by Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Silas himself an indigene of Onna dismissed the industrialisation usually written in mass media and social media as “mere ruse. All you see is a razzmatazz.”
According to him, “industrialisation is like a wave. It must hit you. It must create the desired impact in the people. How many families in Akwa Ibom can say they have been impacted by the industrialization? How many people have been employed in these industries?
Silas recalled “When ALSCON was established in Ikot Abasi, it transformed the place. Today, instead of rural-urban migration there is urban-rural migration. I have friends who came from Lagos and headed to Ikot Abasi that what they told me what they needed was not in Uyo but in Ikot Abasi. When paper mill was established in Oku Iboku, Itu some years, the people in the area, felt the impact of the industry.
“We (Akwa Ibom people) do not feel the much-vaunted industrialisation policy of the government. We are only feeling it on the pages of newspapers and in the social media. When did you buy tooth picks purportedly manufactured by the state government? What is the market sphere of the tooth picks in the state?,” he queried.
Silas was uncomfortable with a company called VKS, the manufacturer of syringes in the state, noting, “Who is VKS? VKS came in as an investor but today VKS is a contractor. It is doing everything in the state. VKS is manufacturing syringes, building roads and building Governor’s lodge. It is a jack of all trades. At what point did they transit from investors to being contractors? There is a conflict somewhere. There is need for the government to come out and lay the cards on the table for Akwa Ibom people to see, otherwise one day the truth will be known.
“VKS has less than 100 staffers. It is a sole proprietor in Turkey. It is a registered construction company. When did the company transit from investment to construction? What is the state government role in the company? The journalist cum politician enumerated.
Speaking on the building of Governor’s Lodge in Lagos, Silas noted “I tried to relate the building of Governor’s lodge with the building of International Worship Centre in Uyo. In Akwa Ibom, our leaders especially those in government of today try to confuse religion with spirituality. Spirituality emphasises truth and attempt to be Godly (justice and empathy). You have to empathise with the people.
On the state government’s intransigence in paying terminal benefits to former political office holders, he lambasted the government for refusing to pay the money all rather paid to a few including the present governor who was then Secretary to the state government, adding “Government assumes arrogance in discharging certain responsibilities to the people and drives itself away from the masses.”
