As Akwa Ibom State marks its’ 35th anniversary, the governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel said his administration has been able to rewrite the story of the state in all sectors across the three Senatorial districts of the state.
The state was created on September 23, 1987, by the then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) GCFR.
In his broadcast speech on Friday, the governor recalled that before now the people who were formerly seen as hewers of wood and gatekeepers, the cooks and the house helps, heeded the clarion call to arise (dakkada) to the faith of their greatness and today they are major players in the boardroom of the Nigerian socio-political enterprise.
He added that his ”dakkada” philosophy, the attitudinal and mind-shift policy is bearing fruit in all ramifications.
According to the text, “in sincerity, together, we have rewritten the Akwa Ibom story across sectors, across Senatorial Districts and across Federal Constituencies. The Akwa Ibom story has become a national story,
“From a collection of nondescript homes, dotted in between with thatched roofed houses, today, our State boasts of some of the most spectacular homes and estates in the nation, and indeed Africa. From pothole-filled roads that could be counted by the fingertips, today, the Uyo, the Capital, and the entire State boast of some of the most elegant and world-class road networks linking us seamlessly in one gigantic movement of people, goods and services.
Emmanuel said his regime had established a legacy for his successor saying that no Akwa Ibomite of good conscience would deny his impacts on the state, especially in areas of aviation, industrialisation, infrastructural development, health care delivery, agriculture, human and youth capacity development as well as promotion of SMEs.
He recalled that his government was ushered in by a headwind of inflation coupled with recession occasioned by the drop in the oil price and the COVID-19 pandemic which shut down the economic activities of the world saying that Akwa Ibom State under his administration was able to scale through economically.
The governor, however, decried the antics of detractors whom he said were bent on criticizing his modest efforts describing as appalling the campaign by such persons that he never built industries such as flour mills, and coconut refineries.
“When certain people out of pure political mischief, (because I don‟t understand why they should push such a narrative), say the industries we have attracted to the state, the syringes manufacturing company, which is the largest and has been celebrated all over the nation and the African Continent, does not exist;
“When you have people who say we should share the allocations we receive among certain interests groups and not invest or to embark on capital projects such as power, education, aviation development or that the road network which all can see, is non-existent; that even the Ibom Air that brings them to Uyo and other parts of the country does not exist you begin to wonder why people should be playing politics with development. But posterity will judge us fairly,” He said
He noted that out of the 2, 274 gazetted villages in the state, only less than five per cent remain yet to be linked to the national grid saying that they are working tirelessly to ensure that the remaining ones are connected before he exits office next year even as he added that Ibom Power Plant generates a minimum of 155Megawatts of electricity every day.