The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Akwa Ibom

  • Incentive for 3,000 Akwa Ibom farmers

    No fewer than 3,000 farmers in Akwa Ibom would benefit from the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) programme before the end of this year, an official said in Uyo.

    The Federal Director in the state, Dr Peter Umanah, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    Umanah said that 2,000 farmers would benefit from the oil palm value chain, while 1,000 others would benefit from the cocoa value chain programme.

    “We have just concluded the generic GES scheme in the state. We are about to begin Value Chain GES programme.

    “Under this scheme, we will focus on different commodities; and in Akwa Ibom, we are going to implement the oil palm value chain GES and about 2,000 farmers will benefit from this programme this year.

    “We are going to implement cocoa value chain GES and about ,1000 farmers are targeted. They will receive free seedlings and other chemicals for their operation at subsidised rate.”

    Umanah said that the programme would also be extended to the livestock sector such as goat, piggery and poultry ,to enhance food production in the country.

    The director said that support for oil palm and cocoa farmers would begin this week, while poultry would commence next month and goat and piggery  in November.

    Umanah said that the government would also support aquaculture, adding that a consultative meeting would be held with stakeholders to educate them on the programme.

  • Construction giant protects Akwa Ibom kids against malaria

    Construction giant protects Akwa Ibom kids against malaria

    AS parts of its Corporate Social Responsibility, Julius Berger Plc has donated over 3,000 insecticide-treated bed nets to school children in a bid to fight and win the war against malaria.

    The donation was done at St. Saviour Afrian Church School, Uruk Uso, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, where each pupil smiled home with one insecticide treated bed net and a pamphlet on how to use it to prevent mosquito bite and malaria.

    Over 1,000 pupils received it while pregnant women and children received one each of the nets at Primary Health Centre, West Itam, Itu local government area and Primary Health Care Centre, Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo.

    Addressing teachers and pupils at St. Saviour African Church Primary

    School, Uruk Uso, Ikot Ekpene, the Public Affairs Manager of Julius

    Berger, Clement Iloba, who led the CSR team of the company, said the audience that apart from building roads, bridges and other infrastructure for the development of Akwa Ibom, Julius Berger is also interested in helping to secure the health of the people.

    Iloba said this was why the company decided to donate insecticide treated bed nets to pregnant women and chidlren to protect them from malaria related deaths.

    Explaining that malaria kills many children before they reach five years, attacks pregnant women and other individuals, Iloba, however, said with the proper use of the insecticide treated bed nets Mosquito bite could be prevented and lives preserved.

    Revealing that Nigeria has a prevalence of malaria leading to 25 per cent childhood mortality rate and 11 per cent maternal mortality,

    Iloba said the company’s intervention through insecticide treated bed nets is to bring down this alarmingfigures and give children the opportunity to grow up and contribute to development.

    Demonstrating the use of the net, the Public Affairs Manager said it should be hung over a bed, tightly fited to prevent access to mosquito noting that five persons could  sleep under one of the nets, which has a life span of five years.

    He said since the company started the malaria prevention campaign,

    8000 nets have been distributed to pregnant and nursing women and students in local schools.

    The CSR team also visited West Itam Secodnary School, to donate fifty footballs as part of its contributions to sports development. Receiving the items on behalf of the school, the principal, Dr. Patrick Edem, thanked the company, saying that it has proved to be a responsible corporate citizen in Akwa Ibom State.

  • War against Akwa Ibom ‘baby factory’ operators

    After winning the war against branding of children as witches and wizards,  Akwa Ibom State has turned the heat on “baby factory” operators, writes Kazeem Ibrahym

    The battle used to be against pastors, parents and others who branded children witches and wizards. That era, the state earned so much bad press, especially overseas. Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio had no choice but to pass the Child Rights Bill into law in 2008. The events leading to the passage of the law are still fresh in the memories of many. A report on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) detailed the inhuman  treatment meted to suspected child-witches by their parents and communities. In the report that went viral, a self-styled cleric, Bishop Sunday William, declared that 2.3 million witches and wizards existed in the state – most of them, according to him, were children.

    Williams also claimed that he helped parents kill about 110 “child-witches” for as much as N400,000 per ‘witch’. The BBC documentary on the activities of his church went viral. It angered Akpabio that a ‘Bishop’ would declare that 2.3 million of the 4 million people in the state are witches and wizards.

    As the problem of branding children “witches” and “wizards” is going down in the state, criminals have devised another means of making quick money. They abduct children either from school or church and sell them. Some of them also operate ‘’baby factory’’, using boys between 18 and 25 to impregnate young girls.

    In the last three months, the police in Akwa Ibom State have arrested many suspects allegedly involved in “baby factory” business.

    In May, a traditional doctor and four others were arrested by the police for the stealing of a three-year-old baby. Commissioner of Police Umar Gwadabe listed the names of the accused persons as Miss. Imaobong Udoh, mother of the baby, Mrs. Regina James, buyer and Mr. Mfon James, her husband.

    Others, according to the police boss, are: Mrs. Comfort Henry, the traditional birth attendant who delivered the baby and Mr. Emmanuel Okon, a homeopathic doctor. The police boss explained that Mrs. James paid N150, 000, to the mother of the baby and N110, 000 to the homeopathic doctor for his transaction.

    His words: “On March 3, 2014, a case of child stealing was reported by Mr. Eteobong James, of No. 33 to the police where a three day old baby girl was sold for N260, 000. Based on the report, the suspects were arrested. Mr. Emmanuel Etim Okon,is the one who arranged the infamous deal and personally conveyed the baby from point of delivery at Nna-Enin in Urhan Local Government Area to the buyers at No. 37 Church Road, Uyo.”

    Gwadabe, who warned criminals, especially those involved in stealing of children, to desist from it as the state would not be conducive for their illicit trade.

    To fight this, the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio, has taken the violence against the children’s campaign to some churches in the rural areas of the state as a way of sensitising the parents on the dangers in giving their children out to either friends or relatives for training.

    Mrs. Akpabio, who is the Chairperson of the Family Life Enhancement Initiative (FLEI), told the parents during her visit to worship at Christ Faith Church, Utu in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area, that they should take advantage of the free and compulsory education policy and stop giving their children out for any pecuniary motives.

    Mrs. Akpabio described children as the greatest assets of any nation, saying when a child is protected; the future of a nation is also protected.

    She said: “On my way to Ukanafun, I noticed that some small children were walking on the streets and that is not good enough. I want to tell you that they have started kidnapping our young children. I don’t want you to take your children to church and leave them outside while you are inside the church. Sometimes they come into the church to kidnap our children. After the kidnap they sell the children. Don’t give your children out to anybody for training. Take advantage of the state’s government free and compulsory education policy and send your children to school.

    “When they kidnap your male child, they sell him between N400, 000 and N450, 000 while the female child goes for N250, 000. Know that our children are worth more that many tubers of yam they will promise you. If you are suffering, let your children suffer with you. Be careful where you send your child to. Tell the people that your child is not for sale.”

    Mrs. Akpabio, who also frowned at the issue of “baby factory business”, said the government would eradicate it.

    She said: “They are using the female children for prostitution business. They get them pregnant and sell the babies. Let any child that is not up to 18 years stay with you. Don’t allow anybody to useless your child. Don’t truncate your child’s education. It is only education that will make your child great.”

    The governor’s wife, who later gave out some gift items and cash to widows in the church, also donated N2million for the completion of the church project.

    In the entourage of the governor’s wife were Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Dr. Glory Edet; Information and Communications Commissioner Mr. Aniekan Umanah; wife of the State Secretary to Government, Martha Emmanuel; and wives of other commissioners.

    From Christ Faith Church, she took her campaign to two other churches, Qua Iboe Church of Nigeria in Ikpe Atai, Etim Ekpo Local Government Area and The Apostolic Church, Nigeria, Ikot Akpa Nkuk Area Headquarters, in Ukanafun Local Government Area.

    At both churches, Mrs. Akpabio’s messages to the parents were not different. She warned them to resist any attempt by anybody to truncate the future of their children as a result of an instant gratification. She gave a cash donation of N500, 000 and N1million to the two churches.

    Mrs Emmanuel commended Akpabio for his holistic approach to the protection of children in Akwa Ibom State, by signing the Child Rights bill into Law.

     

  • How Akwa Ibom, Cross River indigenes were rescued from jail

    How Akwa Ibom, Cross River indigenes were rescued from jail

    They were arrested separately. But, the police came up with a theory to lump them together as partners in crime. Friday Saturday and Amen Daniel spent eight years in jail awaiting trial before they were rescued, reports PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU

    They came to Lagos to eke out a living. They are from two neigbouring states in the Southsouth, which used to be one. Amen Daniel is from Ikon village in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. Friday Saturday hails from Calabar in Cross River State.

    But, to hang them, the police said they were both from Akwa Ibom.

    Saturday was arrested at Oyingbo Market in 2006. He was selling puff-puff. Because he could not afford the alleged N5,000 “bribe” demanded by the police to secure his freedom, the only N700 he had was taken by his oppressors.

    He was taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba where he was tortured, wounded with electric iron and shot in his legs twice— just to coerce him to admit he was an armed robber. He was not offered medical care; other suspects held in detention with Saturday poured candle wax into the gunshot wounds as first aid.

    After several weeks in police detention without being able to provide the N100, 000 allegedly demanded for his bail, Saturday was charged alongside Daniel, 30, whom he only knew on the day of their arraignment at a Yaba Magistrates’ Court.

    Like Saturday, Daniel, who had his share of police brutality, was arrested in broad daylight on Lekki-Epe Expressway on his way to his mechanic’s workshop after assisting a client whose car broke down.

    He, and three others had assisted the client push his car into a filling station and on his way back to his shop at about 12pm, he was stopped by a plain-clothed officer who forced him into a vehicle.

    Unable to provide the N30,000 demanded by the policemen in Ajah, Daniel said he was threatened with being framed for armed robbery and would rot in prison.

    Daniel was transferred from Ajah Police Station to SCID, Panti. Other suspects, who were arrested almost the same time as he, were released after their relatives paid “ransoms”.

    Knowing that armed robbery is a capital offence which can only be tried at the High Court, the police took the victims to a Magistrates’ Court, secured remand order and dumped them in Ikoyi Prisons.

    Like several other awaiting trial inmates, the victims were forgotten in custody. They prayed day and night, hoping that fate would smile on them since they had no money to hire the services of a lawyer.

    Fortunately, luck shone on them after a lawyer, Charles Okungbowa, visited the prison and probed into the cause of their incarceration.

    Their trial was conducted before Justice Adeniyi Adebajo (rtd), and it took about four years before conclusion— no thanks to several adjournments at the instance of the prosecution.

    After about four years of litigation, Justice Adebajo dismissed the charge of conspiracy and armed robbery against Daniel and Saturday.

    Narrating his ordeal before Justice Adebajo, Saturday said: “I was selling puff puff at Oyingbo Market around 12pm and police came there at a point I was about to sell to a customer. As I put down my show glass to sell to a customer inside a vehicle, they drove close and arrested me.

    “They searched me and saw the N700 in my pocket and a newspaper I folded in my back pocket. There was nothing more and so they collected the N700 and told me to enter the car.

    “I was asking them what I have done and that they should wait for me to carry my show glass but they dragged me inside the car and told me to give them N5000 before they will free me.

    “I told them I do not have any other money except the N700 they have taken from me and they said I will see myself at the station. When we got to the station, they asked me to write my statement and I told them I am not educated and do not even know what to write since they arrested me while I was doing my business.

    “I did not write any statement. They wrote it themselves and they accused me of armed robbery at Ajah. Meanwhile, I have never been to Ajah. They told me to call my people to bring N100, 000 to bail me. My brother came with N30, 000; they collected it and said the money was small that he should bring more.

    “He told them he does not have money and they were beating me everyday to accept I am an armed robber. They even shot me on my leg and it was the other suspects in the cell that used candle wax to treat the injuries they inflicted on me.

    “They told me that is how they treat any wound inflicted on them by the police. That they light candle and put the wax inside the injury to kill the germs. I was tortured on daily basis while at Panti until they finally took me to Yaba Magistrates’ Court for arraignment.

    “I never knew Amen Daniel until the morning of our arraignment. It was the police who brought him and told me that he was my co-suspect, that we committed the armed robbery together. I told them I do not know him and have never seen him but they told me to shut up and took us to court.

    “I just thank God that eight years after, I am alive and have regained my freedom. I am begging the government to investigate the police. The way they treat poor people is not good. I was 19 years when I was arrested, now I am 26 years and I have spent eight years in prison, for committing no offence.

    “If not for this lawyer who came to the prison and asked us what happened, after we explained to him and told him we do not have money, he promised to help us and since then, he has been the one helping us. I pray that God will bless him for the good thing he did for me,” said Saturday.

    Delivering judgment, the judge berated the police. He said it was spurious that the police did not provide any evidence whatsoever linking the defendants to their purported crimes.

    Justice Ebenezer Adebajo held that “the only evidence of robbery before this court was the taking of N700 from the second defendant (Saturday) by men of the Nigeria Police who are usually armed when going on patrols or raiding…

    “I am of the opinion that in the course of the defendants’ incarceration at the police stations, they suffered gunshot wounds and the first defendant was further tortured. No statement that purports to be confessional would stand in the light of police brutality… I find the defendants not guilty of the charge. The charge is hereby dismissed and the defendants discharged and acquitted.”

    Although the defendants have been released by the court, the pain inflicted on them through torture, loss of loved ones and wasted years have not been wiped away.

    Even the filing of Fundamental Human Rights (FHR) infringement charges against their oppressors, which is the only available option, may not hold water, especially because the police have flagrantly disobeyed such orders from court without being held for contempt.

    A lawyer, Ahmed  Adetola-Kazeem, said lawyers are frustrated in pursuing and ensuring the victims get their money as a result of the solidarity between the judges and the law enforcement agencies.

    He noted that the agencies also file appeals, which they do not pursue, as tactic to avoid paying judgment debt, just as he insisted that the laws are accurate but not enforced.

    He said: “Most times the sums awarded as damages or compensation by the courts, especially the state high courts, are very meager and hardly worth pursuing giving the rigours involved. The meagre award is largely in my opinion due to the solidarity between the judges and the government. The judges who do this are mostly those who were formally in the ministries of justice.

    “Where the judges were also bold to award damages, they are unwilling to enforce the judgments, for the fear of been victimised by their various state governments or the law enforcement agencies.

    “Another reason why it is difficult to recover the damages is that, the agencies will most times not pay the damages in their volition or on receipt of demand letter from counsel to the victims. They instead rush to file appeal, which is rarely pursued, but filed as a tactic to frustrate the judgment creditor.

    “They equally file application for stay of execution at the high court, which is often granted. All these adds to the frustration of the indigent victim, who doesn’t have the financial muscle to go all the way to recover the damages.

    “In my case, I have had to do the cases pro bono from inception and it becomes discouraging after a while because of the delay and frustration tactics employed by the judgment debtors, the situation is worsened when you realise the paltry sum awarded by the court.

    “We have the garnishee proceedings where the judgment creditor urged the court to order the garnishee( most times, the bank(s) keeping the money of the judgment debtor) to pay him the judgment debt.

    “Where the garnishee, who has the debtors money in its possession, refuses to pay the money, a contempt proceeding can be instituted against the responsible officer of the bank. Contempt proceeding can also be brought against the Judgment debtors where they brazenly disobey the orders of the court.

    “So, in summary, the problem is not in the laws, but in the willingness of the courts to ensure its orders are obeyed.”

    Okungbowa said he decided to help the duo because he felt they were denied justice and fairness by the police, the Magistrates’ Court and the Ministry of Justice since their arrests on December 6 for Daniel and December 14 for Saturday, both in 2006.

    “I met the defendants in Ikoyi Prisons sometime in 2010 during a visit to see some of my clients. My clients were the ones who introduced the duo and asked me to see how I could help them since they had suffered hopelessness to access justice and regain their freedom of liberty being deprived them by the long prison remand, which ordinarily should not have been more than one or two months as the case may be.

    “When I came in contact with them, they were still awaiting trial and neither the police nor the state Ministry of Justice had filed a charge against them at the appropriate courts of competent jurisdiction.

    “The unprofessional, illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional manner they were arrested and the circumstances/torture of beating, hanging, burnt with hot pressing iron and being shot with gun on their legs that they were subjected to by the officers and men of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba in their detention cell propelled me as a lawyer and activist to take up their case pro bono and defend them successfully.”

    Okungbowa said he felt bad that the police still go about arresting and detaining innocent people.

    “I feel very bad and concerned. It is condemnable, reprehensible and a stop must be put to it. Everybody in the society must come together in fighting it to a standstill and not offering lip services in public, only to go behind and use the police to harass or intimidate others.

    “Also prompt investigation of any allegation of misused powers by the police should be carried out with appropriate punishment meted on any defaulter. Another measure is to hold their superiors, departments or formation, accountable and responsible too, who do not properly supervise them and take any of their wrong doings seriously.

    “Finally, the human rights units in the police force are not working as it should be and is manned by the same police officers and men. This should stop and if we are serious with the unit, it should be headed by a lawyer and comprise other members of the civil society.

    “Also seminars and workshops on civil and constitutional right lectures, topics or courses should be organised as refresher and retraining for the police,” he said.

     

  • Akwa Ibom leads in SWF contribution

    Akwa Ibom State was the highest contributor to the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) last year, Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Investment Authority (NSIA) Uche Orji has said.

    He spoke when his team visited Governor Godswill Akpabio in Uyo, the state capital.

    Orji said Akwa Ibom contributed the highest to the fund, particularly counterpart funding.

    He said they were in the state to partner the state government and invest in the state as well as be a part of the ongoing transformation in the state, adding that the authority invests in real estate, agriculture, power and seaport, among others.

    Akpabio said: “Investors are welcomed to the state to invest in any areas of their choice because Akwa Ibom state has an available perimeter of investments for investors. We have made remarkable achievements in the last seven years of my administration and we have reaped the dividends of democracy”.

    According to the Governor, the state had to invest not only on infrastructure but to also on human capacity building, we did that through our free and compulsory education policy, where every Nigerian child resident in the state goes to school free. He said the state has also built about 3,000 classroom blocks and equipped schools with adequate facilities.

    “We also constructed quality road network in the state; we are already building 2,000 units of housing; we are already building a four-point by Sheraton Hotel in Ikot Ekpene; we have finished the Ibom power plant, which would be commissioned soon.

    “We would soon take off the construction of Ibaka deep seaport and in total we have about 14 industries in the state, among others. So, the NSIA is welcome to invest in any areas of their choice in the state and we would be willing to partner with them,” the Governor revealed.

  • Cineplex…Akwa Ibom’s home of movies, fun

    Cineplex…Akwa Ibom’s home of movies, fun

    For almost next to nothing, Cineplex in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital provides fun for indigenes of the state and visitors alike. But there are concerns over whether the state will reap the huge investment on the complex, writes Kazeem Ibrahym

    They troop in from time to time. With excitement on their faces, they come expecting. Beauty stares them as they get to the complex. Inside too radiates beauty. It smells good too.

    This is Cineplex in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. It is part of the controversial N33billion Ibom Tropicana

    Entertainment Centre awarded in September 15, 2008 to Silverbird Showtime Limited.

    Governor Godswill Akpabio signed the contract on behalf of the state government while Ben Murray-Bruce, Managing Director of Silverbird signed for the company.

    The Cineplex is the cinema aspect of the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre. It was opened to the public on Saturday April 30, 2011, three years after the project was conceived. It has six cinema halls with 250 seating capacity for each of the hall.

    Akpabio, while signing the contract, said 15 companies submitted bids for the job and three survived the pre-selection

    screening before the contract was awarded to Silverbird Group.

    The governor described the Tropicana Entertainment Centre as a major milestone in the efforts of the government to ginger the economy through increased revenue generation and creation of employment,saying the centre would employ 5,000 people.

    Apart from the Cineplex, which is already completed and open to the public, the Tropicana Entertainment Centre when completed fully would come with the following facilities: a 250-room five star hotel housed

    in a 16-storey edifice; an ultra-modern shopping mall; an international convention centre with a seating capacity of 5, 000

    people; games parks (wet and dry); and a monorail. The shopping mall is completed and awaiting inauguration.

    Initially, N100 was charged at the cinema. After stabilising the centre and ensuring enough traffic flow of people, the rate was

    increased to N250 while the state government is still subsidising the amount.

    During one of his visits to the centre, Akpabio explained that the state government was subsidising the centre to encourage the low income earners enjoy one of the best facilities of the state government.

    Akpabio admitted that the economy of the state has not developed to the extent where the low income earners would be spending N1, 500 in watching a movie.

    For Michael Asuquo, an indigene of the state, he believes the construction of the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre is a monumental waste of public fund.

    According to Asuquo, who did not mince words in condemning the state for embarking on such a white elephant project, he said: “there is endemic poverty in the state while the governor embarks on white elephant projects like Ibom Tropicana and e-Library.

    “The Tropicana project is a monumental waste of public fund as the state government subsidises the cinema yet not up to 20 people are seen in the cinema hall at a time even though it costs onlyN250 towatch a movie.”

    “This is a stark contrast to Silvabird Cinema in Victoria Island and Ikeja where movie watchers are ready to pay N1500 to see a movie.”

    But, to Iniobong Kufre, who is a regular visitor at the cinema after the close of work, appreciated the state government for subsidising the cost of seeing a movie .

    She said: “The cost is cool with most of us but at Ibom Tropicana they repeat movies a lot and movies stay for too long. We don’t know may be it is because the government is subsidising the rate.”

    A member of staff of Silverbird, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, explained that there is more traffic of people to the galleria from Friday to Sunday.

  • FG approves polytechnic for Akwa-Ibom

    The federal government has approved the establishment of a Federal Polytechnic in Ukana, Essien Udium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

    Already, a take-off grant of N1 billion from the Education Trust Fund has been approved for the institution billed to commence classes in September.

    Governor Godswill Akpabio received President Jonathan’s approval letter from the Minister of Education, Hon. Nyesom Wike, at the Governor’s Office, Uyo.

    He said: “On behalf of myself and the good people of Akwa Ibom State, we appreciate President Jonathan for this kind gesture in finding the state worthy in establishing a federal higher institution in the state and we are very glad about it.

    “Our state is a state on the right track in the educational sector. Already, we have introduced the free and compulsory education in the state for the benefit of all the children in the state, which the federal polytechnic in the state is a welcome development.”

    Akpabio further stated: “The federal government has already provided a take-off grant of about N1 billion for the project.

    “And in our way of supporting the federal government, we have decided to rehabilitate the existing Independence High School in Ukana as a temporary site for the school, which studies would commence by September of this year.”

    He congratulated the Rector, Prof. Oluma Joseph, and other principal officers of the institution, assuring them of the cooperation of the state government.

  • Akpabio’s outlandish pension law

    Sir: Despite public outrage and opposition to the self-serving and anti-people’s “Akwa Ibom State Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Bill, 2014”, the state governor, Godswill Akpabio, went on to sign the controversial Bill into law. By this action, the senate-bound governor has succeeded in subjecting the state treasury to his whims and caprices even after leaving office. Nothing could be more insensitive and waste of public funds than this.

    For the rest of his life, Akpabio and his successors will continue to receive free medical service at the sum “not exceeding” a whooping N100 million annually! According to the law, the retired deputy governors will also pocket N30 million for the same “medical service” every year, and it does not matter whether they fall sick or not. The law also makes provision for the ex-governor’s domestic aides at the sum of N5 million per month and N2 million for the deputy governor in a state where the workers receive a meagre N18, 000 as monthly wage.

    Even when the governor has not done enough in the area of affordable housing scheme to the people of the state in the last seven years of his administration, he smuggled a clause into the law “a befitting accommodation not below a five-bedroom maisonette in either Abuja or Akwa Ibom” for himself, if he retires, while his deputy will be entitled to 300% yearly accommodation allowance. In a state, where the ordinary people continue to feed from hands to the mouth, they would be forced to buy, through their taxes, a new official car and a utility vehicle to the governor once in every four years amongst other frivolous expenditures as contained in the law.

    It is inappropriate and misleading for the governor to attempt to defend the scandalous law while making a veiled reference to the former law signed by his predecessor. For instance, the former law did not make provisions for a utility car, a house or place a price tag for medical and domestic service for the governor and his deputy. But surreptitiously all of these are contained in Akpabio’s version and yet he wants Nigerians to accept that the law is a product of prudence!

    What Nigerians are presently witnessing is the last minute attempt by the outgoing governors and their cronies to bleed their various states’ purse and enrich themselves through deceptive legislations. The likes of Akpabio are gradually revealing their true colours, and it is for Nigeria electorates to distinguish between these wolves in sheep skins such that they would be able to exercise their franchise discreetly come next election.

    It is completely unacceptable to continue to maintain the extravagant lifestyle of some of these selfish politicians with public fund when leaders in other climes are cutting down on their expenses and salaries to improve social welfare. Nigerians must rise against these corrupt leaders. We must demand accountability from our public office holders, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations. Those who are hell-bent at enriching their pockets to the detriment of ordinary Nigerians must be shown the exit door in 2015.

     

    • Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

    Ebonyi

     

  • 612 illegal immigrants repatriated

    The Nigeria Immigration Service in Akwa Ibom State has repatriated 612 illegal immigrants to their countries.

    The command generated over N60million into government coffers from January to May.

    The State Comptroller, Abdullahi Garba, said the command repatriated 87 ECOWAS nationals through Seme border post in three batches.

    He said the command during the same period repatriated 307 Nigeriens through Jibiya control post in Katsina State to Niger Republic.

    He also said 14 Cameroonians and six other nationals residing in Cameroon were  sent back through Oron Control Post.

    The Comptroller said the exercise would be a continuous one because of the security situation in the country.

    “They were all shown the way out for lack of valid travel documents and subsequent means of livelihood.”

  • Challenges that ‘ll confront my successor, by Akpabio

    Challenges that ‘ll confront my successor, by Akpabio

    Akwa Ibom Governor Godswill Akpabio has  highlighted the challenges that will confront his successor. He said the next governor must endeavour to maintain the various development projects, which are the legacies of his administration.

    The governor spoke with reporters in Uyo, the state capital, after inspecting the Ibom International Stadium project. He was accompanied by Senator Udoma Udoma.

    He said: “This is a state where maintenance should be a major focus. The next administration should not look for too much glory, but  a way to maintain the projects that we have done, which are  of high standard. We like to see our  people drive along our roads with no potholes”.

    Akpabio said he had set a standard for his successors, who should build on the legacies. He said the projects executed by him will stand the test of time.

    The governor added: “On the stadium, we are signing a maintenance contract with Julius Berger Company for the next 10 years. For most of our projects like the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre, we have also done maintenance management for the Le’ Meridien Hotel and Golf Resort, which the golf resort had already handed over to the hotel for maintenance for four years now.

    “We like to see improvement in the education sector, with our children going to school free, with the quality of teachers improving through the training and re-training of teachers. We also intend to expand Akwa Ibom State University with the building of more structures, so that,at the end of the day, we take education as a priority and train our children in management for the sustainability of projects and for the uncommon transformation of the state.”

    Akpabio, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum Chairman, reflected on power and politcs, saying that power is only meaningful, if governors execute laudable projects for the benefit of the people.

    He urged governors to live up to expectation in their  states, adding that this is what is required in a democracy.

    Udoma, who lauded the quality of work at the stadium, praised the governor for the state’s infrastructural development.