A top media professional in Akwa Ibom State has disparaged that there is government but no governace in the state, submitting that “All is not well in the state in the scheme of things.”
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), Udo Silas, the immediate past General Manager of Akwa Ibom State Newspaper Corporation, stated “In fact, there is government but no governance in Akwa Ibom State.”
Silas, who is a media professional and a stalwart of All Progrssives Party (APC), explained “Governance is evidence of responsiveness to the needs of the people. If you go about and do things based on what you think my needs are in direct opposition to what my needs really are- that is government.
“The chorus arises from school children, market women and traders that all is not well. The chorus arises from politicians to the legislators in the state House of Assembly that all is not well. This is because there is disconnect between the government and the people.”
On further the appraisal of the state government’s priorities, Silas reacted sharply “No, the priorities of the state government are not on point.”
“There is goverrnment everywhere in Akwa Ibom- there is government in orchestrated solemn assembly; there is government in dilapidated and abandoned infrastructure; there is government in school children being paraded for sports without attendant ICT-based training,” he mocked.
According to him, “Government must listen and understand the needs of the people and know their priorities. Right now, there is so much government in Akwa Ibom, but little governance. All is not well in the state.”
Commenting on the percentage of scoring the government at the centre, Silas said “One of the cardinal things we have learnt is that there is a new way to think and a new way to do things. We do things with the fear of what my neighbour would think and do. If we think well, we cannot see the dividends immediately.”
On the alleged discriminatory corruption fight by the federal government, he said “You cannot please all Nigerians. The argument must be there depending on whose side of the divide you look at it. There could mistakes here and there. It is a learning process. President Muhammadu Buhari has not done all that he planned to.We may say we have not done all that we planned to do, but by the sheer personality we have brought into power, a new thinking is brought to bear on how Nigerians should do things and think.”
