As Governor Udom Emmanuel celebrates his 2nd anniversary as Chief Executive Officer of Akwa Ibom State, I feel compelled to make certain observations with a view to seeking clarifications from the state government.
First, the Governor has reportedly claimed to have constructed over 700 kilometres of roads in his first two years in office.Can this be true? With due respect, until Iam convinced otherwise, I consider this a huge joke.
If the distance between Uyo and Lagos is 659.4 km, is our Governor saying that all the roads his administration has constructed so far, if put together is longer than Uyo to Lagos? Haba! This is unbelievable.
I can't believe this until the state government publishes a list of the roads and their kilometres.
I personally believe that comparatively, the Udom Emmanuel administration hasn't done too poorly in the area of road infrastructure.(Even though the dualization of Uyo- Oron Road is suffering from Kwashiokor). But why this annoying exaggeration?
More so, the Governor was quoted again as saying that his administration doesn't owe anybody arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities.
In fact, that was not the first time he would be making that claim. Once I read this latest gist last night , I had to call my mum to ascertain its veracity.
My mother retired from service four years ago as a primary school teacher in the employ of the Akwa Ibom State Government. I'm aware the state government is yet to pay her gratuity and six months arrears of pension.
Or between the Governor and my mum, whose account should I believe ? I know of other retired primary school teachers who have been expecting their gratuities for years to no avail.
How does our Governor expect these old people to feel each time he boldly declares that the state government is not owing them?
I subscribe to William Gladstone's irrefutable assertion that " Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right".
The assignment of different moral codes to our politicians from the ones that govern our day to day existence is responsible for the inability of our political system to birth progress. Until we bridge that gap, sustainable development will continue to elude Africa.
One of the greatest setbacks for Akwa Ibom State is the obsession of its Governors, especially from the Godswill Akpabio era with the endorsements of outsiders.
In other words, they are more interested in earning undeserved applause from non indigenes and non residents than positively affecting the lives of those they were elected to govern.
This explains why the Akwa Ibom State Government has probably spent more on media campaigns than any other state government in Nigeria. Otherwise, there would be no need attempting to deceive the people on matters of their experience.
So, as far as I'm concerned, these falsehoods are meant to deceive outsiders but definitely not my mother who is still painfully waiting for when her gratuity and arrears of pension will be paid four years into retirement.
His Excellency should be reminded that the gratuity and pensions he is playing politics with, are the reasons most civil servants rebuff better offers in the private sector to remain in government's employ.
He may be indirectly committing mass murder while he thinks he is playing politics with these life long entitlements and expectations.
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