The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has announced bold initiatives to jump start the post-COVID economy of Akwa Ibom State this first quarter 2021.
Governor Emmanuel made the declaration at the Government House Banquet Hall, during the yearly Solemn Assembly organized by the State Government to usher in the New Year 2021 and rededicate the State to God, on Saturday January 2, 2021.
These initiatives include efforts to revamp the State education sector, massive investment in infrastructure, further investments in health sector especially the training of health workers, additional support for agriculture and security.
For these, the governor promised to inject a whopping N50billion as economic stimulus, beginning from the first quarter of this year.
He decried the trend of Nigerians going abroad to acquire education, even in smaller African countries, Governor Emmanuel said his administration’s comprehensive education agenda will soon reverse the trend in Akwa Ibom, as he restated his declaration of state of emergency on education in 2021.
“If you go to these small West African countries you see a lot of Nigerians there some of those universities they go to attend are not as neat as the secondary schools that we have here.
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“When did we lose our pride? How can we be going to these smaller countries to school? We must stop it. If not anywhere, in Akwa Ibom and then try to make sure we get things right going forward”.
” In 2021, we’ve declared emergency on education the same way we declare on healthcare in the State before Covid-19. We have a comprehensive education agenda. We’ve education think-tank. We’ve linked up with all the Akwa Ibom eggheads across the world and we meet with them on zoom; wherever you are, once we know you have something to contribute to the development of the state, education-wise. We have been compiling and we are going to launch out aggressively,” he said.
He announced that government will start with building physical infrastructure of those schools then training the teachers, adding that all the secondary schools in Uyo must be fenced round beginning from this month.
The Governor however sued for parents’ cooperation in providing their children with such necessities as uniforms and writing materials, while government strives to provide infrastructure, teachers’ training and security and other needs in pursuit of the agenda, saying there was need to return to the system of setting up committees in villages to ensure the security of school properties to complement government efforts.
The State Chief Executive Officer, re-echoed the importance of adhering to the precautionary measures against the coronavirus disease, warning that Government cannot afford the socio-economic impact of another lockdown and does not wish to, if the people cooperate by obeying the protocol.
“Covid-19 is real. I am at the forefront of the fight. Let’s do everything possible to protect ourselves. If we painstakingly obey all the Covid-19 protocols, I will not have any reason to lockdown the state. You might be strong in faith but some people are vulnerable, protect those that are vulnerable.
“Please parents, we are continuing with our first term to stop on 23rd January, 2021. I don’t think if we obey Covid-19 protocol I will have need to put those children back home. Those are young vibrant people. If I do that it will be difficult to control them, even Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU) let them go back to school”.
Governor Emmanuel promised further investments in the health sector to ensure that each of the three Senatorial Districts in the state has a training centre for nurses and midwives. He commended the agricultural sector for the abundance of rice in the state during the 2020 national lockdown and promised to revisit productivity in other subsectors to boost output and ensure that the State has no reason to import food items that it cultivate within by the end of 2021.
In a related development, Governor Udom Emmanuel revealed that N50billion will be injected into the State economy while speaking at a New Year Thanksgiving Service earlier on Friday at Qua Iboe Church, Ikot Nya, Nsit Ibom Local Government Area.
The Governor however gave assurance that the decision will rely on the approval of the State House of Assembly and will primarily focus on funding contractors to complete ongoing projects across the State.
“We are going to stimulate the economy very fast this January and we are going to do that very fast, in fact after this first week and the second week, we are going to stimulate the economy of the State. We are going to put in a lot of money to the contractors with that they can stimulate the economy,” he said.
The governor assured that , “Mr Speaker had approved for me that within this first quarter I should stimulate the economy of the state with not less than N50 billion. With this, we can encourage a lot of socioeconomic growth”.
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