Different jingles and advertorials used by campaign managers in different social and mass media across the country allude to the prevalence of peace in Akwa Ibom State as a cardinal achievement of the state government.
Though peace does not form a five-point agenda of the three-year and seven-month-old administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel under Peoples Democratic Party, peace is given a prime place in the party’s campaign strategy in the state industrialisation success story.
Yet, the state government’s five-point agenda- job creation, poverty Alleviation, wealth creation, economic and political inclusion and infrastructural consolidation and expansion- receive less emphasis.
Eseme Eyiboh, an All Progressives Congress Campaign spokesman in the state, has knocked the highly publicised peace stunt of the government as a farce.
Speaking at Inspiration FM, Uyo on Wednesday, Eyiboh who is also the Chairman of Cross iver Basin Development Authority, noted “As we speak, Ukanafun local government council secretariat is still under lock and key. Work at the council secretariat has come to a standstill. Some aggrieved youths went and terrorised staffers of Etim Ekpo local government council some months ago.”
He queried, “If there is peace, why is Ukanafun local government council being administered from outside the area? Why is Ukanafun High Court seated in Abak? It means a poor person from Ukanafun seeking justice has to go to Abak. I know there is no peace globally, but the state government has not shown strong resolve to nail the crisis in the bud.”
According to him, “The governor should not come to the public to tell the people that there is peace in the state. If there is peace, why was Mfon Udeme, former aide to the governor shot? Why was Nsima Ekere the APC governorship candidate attacked in his house? If there is peace, why do we have this welter of security flashes in the state? The architecture of peace in the state has deteriorated.”
The spokesman, who was enunciating the campaign agenda of Nsima Ekere, the APC governorship candidate in the state on security and social protection, said “I am sure you are aware that in some local government areas in the state, there is no peace. In short, people are not living there. Even when government is coming out with a confession that there is rehabilitation, there is rehabilitation because there was crisis.
For more than three years, some communities in Etim Ekpo and Ukanafun local government areas were embroiled in cult-war that metamorphosed into killings, rapes and kinapping of innocent people as well as closure of many churches, public schools, health institutions and markets.
On allegation that the rehabilitation has turned many to merchants, Eyiboh recalled “In Etim Ekpo and Ukanafun, you have heard about the Debam cult. The rehabilitation is like the issue of defection. It has been turned to instrument of merchandising- you have merchants of defection and merchants of rehabilitation.
“Go and see the youths who laid down arms. As the beneficiaries of the programme, they are not enjoying it. Government should show clear direction, responsibility, capacity and willingness in handling the issue instead of dilly dallying.”
However, more than 200 aggrieved youths in the areas laid down down arms for peace as sough by the state government in collaboration with Akwa Ibom Police Command.
Straightnews gathered that most of the aggrieved youhts feel let down as the state government is said not to have fulfilled its pledge of rehabilitating them.
On the crisis that erupted in Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, he explained “When there was crisis in the House of Assembly, the governor could not summon the state security meeting to address the problem. Rather, he led the youths to the house. As the state chief security officer, he should have been put an action using demographic intelligence to summon the security chiefs for a meeting with a view to finding lasting solution to the crisis instead of accusing the state Commissioner of Police of being complicit in the crisis. The commissioner was statutorily empowered to do what he did.”
Answering question if there is global peace, Eyiboh stated “Let me say this without any political partisanship. The issue of security has various dimensions. Nigeria is a country which has been inflicted by the tyranny of the minority. Now, majority are suffering. Our democracy was intended to be a government of the people by the people for the people.
“Unfortunately, the majority are abetting the tyranny of the minority to the extent that you have Boko Haram in the North, Niger Delta Militants, Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East and O’dua Peoples Congress in the South West and the Debam in Akwa Ibom.”
He assured that APC government would create safety nets. We have to ensure that most of the young people are actively engaged in skill trainings and acquisition. We have to create economic cluster where a lot people through cop-operative society and small-scale medium clinics and take advantage of Federal Government’s cash grant of Borrowers scheme. The agricultural ecology of the state is rich. Government has the right to increase the opportunities such as the innovativeness of the people.
On the local government autonomy, he assured that APC administration would muster courage to grant autonomy to the local government councils in the state.
Eyiboh lamented that based on the 2002 Constituion of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), Akwa Ibom state government has not been paying three per cent on internally generated revenue to the councils in the state.
Talking about education by Ekere administration, the APC spokesman said “This is where the issue of scholarship and creating competitiveness come in. When you train teachers and the students are not there to be trained, the issue suffers. Recall education is not like road construction which you can say I want to do three kilometres this year and three kilometres next year. It has to do with foundation.
“If we are able to encourage competitiveness for example by instituting annual awards across the state the teachers would compete among themselves and the students will compete among themselves.
“If a particular school is doing well in West African Examinations Ccouncil (WAEC), then it has to be awarded prizes. These are motivational things. That is why I was talking about creating the nexus through human capital and the issue of development process because it will trigger that.”
“If you look at the university system (the bursary), there are many students who cannot go to school because their parents cannot afford it. The issue of bursary and scholarship is fundamnental. By doing this, you will be able to create competitiveness and research-based training not learning through enrolment. We can guarantee the future of those who will come and partake in the industrialisation of new vision and not the industrialisation we are talking about today.
“The issue of education in Akwa Ibom is not about having so many schools. What we want to do differently is to create room for quality. You cannot talk about quality education if you do not have quality teachers and students who are motivated. It is like a tripod. The prosperity will generate a safety net for the economic prosperity of the people through interventionist methods,” Eyiboh concluded.
