By Akanimo Kufre (The New Diplomat’s A/Ibom|C/River Correspondent)
The Akwa Ibom state chapter of the All Progressive Congress, (APC) has queried Governor Udom Emmanuel over the oddity of unemployment in the state against top ranking funds’ disbursement through FAAC, IGR and Paris Club refund that the state has benefited from under his administration.
The APC at a press conference held at its party secretariat in Uyo, Tuesday, demanded detailed explanation from Gov Emmanuel as to why there is a huge gap between Akwa Ibom and other states as revealed by the latest unemployment figures.
The New Diplomat had reported that the Akwa Ibom State Government rejected the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report which listed it as the second state with the highest unemployment rate in the country.
In the recently released NBS report, unemployment rate in Nigeria had rose to 27.1 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020.
NBS also listed Imo as the state with the highest rate of unemployment at 48.7 per cent, followed by Akwa Ibom and Rivers with 45.2 per cent and 43.7 per cent respectively.
But Akwa-Ibom state government in a statement released by Mr Ini Ememobong, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, had described the NBS report as unacceptable.
“The reality on ground in our state is in contradiction to the Bureau’s report.
“As a responsible government, we intend to engage the National Bureau of Statistics, to ascertain the veracity of their processes and results, particularly, we will seek answers to the following questions:
“What was the sample size used in the survey? What was the spatial spread of the sample? What population figure did they use to obtain the percentage recorded for Akwa Ibom? What quality assurance mechanisms did they employ? What was the temporal spread of the data used in the analyses?” Ememobong said.
However, the APC in the state is having none of that.
The party through its acting Chairman, Dr. Ita Udosen said: “This administration has earned over N1.6 trillion since it came into office from various sources such as FAAC, IGR and Refunds from the Paris Club and the federal government.
“In addition to mass unemployment in our state, our Party has also raised alarm over the high and pervasive cases of poverty, HIV/AIDS prevalence, high school drop-outs, fall in WAEC performance by students and general high misery indices amongst our people in the state.”
Udosen also asked Emmanuel to desist from insulting its elder, Sen. Ita Enang. In his personal response to the NBS indices, Enang had urged Akwa Ibom parents to discontinue buying internet data for their unemployed wards who go on social media to sing praises to the PDP government “lies.”
“This press conference is therefore necessitated by the need to set the records straight in view of the insults and abuses spewed out by Gov. Udom Emmanuel against Distinguished Senator Ita Enang over the NBS report. You will recall that in his media chat about two weeks ago, Governor Udom Emmanuel made some denigrating statements against Senator Ita Enang simply because the Distinguished Senator had also expressed his personal opinion on the NBS report.” Dr Udosen stated.
The party strongly condemned Governor Emmanuel’s administration as being despotic by allegedly engaging an array of hack writers to promote phantom projects and coercion of Akwa Ibomites.
“Embarrassed by his lackluster performance, the governor will go to any extent to cover his weaknesses and failure. The ‘importation’ of Mr. Femi Fani Kayode (FFK) into the state the other week unwittingly exposed the failure of the administration.”
Continuing, the APC described Gov Emmanuel as an ‘Accidental Public Servant’, saying that Udom has never set up personal business venture in Akwa Ibom or be involved in any philanthropic activities.
The APC stressed that the governor should stop hurling insults at Senator Enang, who according to the party, has impacted positively, the lives of Akwa Ibomites through various projects, legislation, advocacy and nationalistic ideas.
