JOE EFFIONG, UYO
Akwa Ibom State government has attributed the disturbances and crises in the state to the low level of development and inactivity in the rural economy.
Governor Umo Eno, who said this when he had some interaction with a delegation from the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, that paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Uyo, promised that Issues bothering on boundary arising from the recent mapping and other factors in the state would soon be a thing of the past as his administration is set to implement the A.R.I.S.E. Agenda to take development to the grassroots.
The governor expressed optimism that with the phenomenal development plan the A.R.I.S.E. Agenda holds for the rural and riverine areas of the state, and the corresponding heightened economic activities, people would hardly pay attention to or avail themselves for such trivial issues.
“My position is simple, if we bring development to our communities in the real sense of it, it is difficult to start fighting for boundaries because development will be spread across the boundaries and everyone begins to take the benefits of that development. That is why you don’t hear of boundary crises between Victoria Island and Apapa,” he stated.
He promised to use development to redirect attention and energy of the people towards more lucrative ventures and sued for peace among parties involved in crises on matters that are before the court, pending determination to pave the way for development projects .
“On the issue of mapping and remapping, we have asked all the parties to hold on. This case is in the court and my understanding is that when a case is in court, everyone should hold on. We are suing for peace, and I believe that peace will soon come. We want to see peace while we do all we can to bring development to those communities”.
Governor Eno thanked PANDEF for their kind words and lauded their commitment to the peace and progress of the Niger Delta region, paying tributes to the National leader of the Forum, Chief Edwin Clark.
Earlier, the National Chairman of PANDEF and leader of the delegation, Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, congratulated the governor on his election victory and subsequent swearing into.office as governor of Akwa Ibom State, lauding his timely articulation of a roadmap for good governance and development.
He said PANDEF was pleased with Governor Eno for his show of statesmanship and capacity to foster collaborations as demonstrated in his visit to President Tinubu as well as identifying with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who is a product of the region.
PANDEF therefore prevailed on Umo Eno to deploy his ingenuity in fostering collaborations among the leaders of the region towards a holistic development as spelt out in the A. R. I. S. E. Agenda blueprint of his administration.