“No PDP member should speak ill of Obong Attah, Sen Akpabio”-Onofiok Luke

The Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Onofiok Luke has stated that he is against casting of aspersions on past leaders in the state.

Hon Luke stated this last Thursday when members of  Forum of Former Elected Local Government Chairmen in Akwa Ibom State paid him a courtesy visit at the Assembly Complex.

While appreciating them for their contributions towards the development of the state during their tenure, said he was against a situation were aspersion is cast on former leaders.

“I want to state here today that I’m against a situation were aspersion is cast on former leaders.

“The level of development we are witnessing today is because of the various contributions and sacrifices of our past leaders who did their best”.

Speed Limiter: Commercial vehicles yet to comply in Akwa Ibom

The Unit Commander of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Eket Command, Mr Nicholas Akueme said that commercial vehicles were yet to comply to obtain Speed Limiting Device (SLD), in their vehicles in the state.

Akueme stated this in an interview with newsmen in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom at weekend.

He said that over 30 commercial vehicles had been impounded and booked for SLD violations and failure to obtain the device in the area.

“For what I observed, a lot of the commercial vehicles have not complied but they are aware of the speed limiter,’’ Akueme said.

He said that the command had sensitized and visit relevant stakeholders and NURTW on the importance of speed limiting device in the country.

DPR seals 27 filling stations for selling above government price in Akwa Ibom

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Eket field office says it sealed 27 filling stations for selling above government approved pump price of N145 per litre in the state.

Mr Bassey Nkanga, the Operations Controller of DPR gave the figures when Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), paid courtesy call to the department in Eket on Saturday.

He said that the filling stations were sealed between January and February in the state.

Nkanga threatened to sanctioned marketers that do not sell petroleum products at government control prices and frowned at them for selling above government approved price of N145 per litre.

Okobo Youths endorse Gov. Udom for second term

Youths from Okobo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have left nobody in doubt about their usual and unshaken support for the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel as well as their determination to defend the Divine Mandate of the governor in 2019. Rolling out their drums and coming out in their numbers under the aegis of “Utibe Okobo Youth Organization”, the youth on Wednesday held a mega rally at the Government Primary School, Okobo, for the Official Inauguration and Launching of “Project Udom 2019”. 

Reactions from the group which comprised youths from the 10 wards of Okobo local government area noted that the rally and “Project Udom 2019” became necessary as a public show of appreciation and support for Gov. Udom Emmanuel for his good works for Okobo people in particular and the entire Oro Nation at large, and to reaffirm their solidarity for the Governor come 2019. They maintained that the rally was a forum for PDP youth loyalists in the area to openly demonstrate their resolve and commitment to make real 2019.

Eyakenyi meets Akwa Poly staff, students

Recently the Chairman, Governing Council, Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Dr. (Mrs) Akon Eyakenyi met with the staff and students of the institution. 

The  meeting had in attendance members of the governing council, the rector and management team, members of the academic board, teaching and non teaching staff, chairmen and executives of unions, deans of students, speaker of students parliament, president of departmental association, presidents and leaders of fellowships and president and leaders of different socio-cultural groups. 

The Real Property Charge Bill will not have negative effect on rural dwellers - Usoro Akpanusoh

The member representing Ibeno/Esit Eket State Constituency, Rt Hon Usoro Akpanusoh has stated that the soon to be enacted ‘Real Property Charge’ bill will not have any negative effect on the rural dwellers and the poor.

Hon Akpanusoh made this know during an interactive session with newsmen in his office earlier today.

Mr Akpanusoh who is the sponsor of the bill says the bill when passed will among other things help in generating revenue for the state through levies.

In his words, “the bill will not have any negative effect on the rural dwellers, rather it will help in generating revenues for the state”.

The Chairman House Committee on Finance and Appropriation also stressed that the bill is not targeted at a particular local government in the state, but the entire state.

Etinan PDP passes vote-of-confidence on Udom, Paul Ekpo …congratulates Party Chairman on emergence as Chairman of Chairmen

The Etinan Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Etinan Local Government Area has expressed satisfaction with the performance of Governor Udom Emmanuel and the State Chairman of the party, Obong Paul Ekpo. 

The disclosure was made recently at the Stakeholders’ Meeting of the party held at the conference hall of the Etinan Local Government Council. 

Declaring the meeting open, the Chapter Chairman of the PDP in Etinan, Rt. Hon. Inemesit Itina, lauded the members for their loyalty to the party and urged them to continue being staunch ambassadors of the party. 

Itina highlighted that the PDP has impacted positively on Etinan by ensuring that tangible dividends of democracy and deepening of democratic values are entrenched in Etinan.

He lauded the governor for initiating projects including the dualization of the Etinan-Uyo Road, construction of the Ekpene Ukpa bridge, renovation of the Etinan Institute and the General Hospital.  

NDDC Managing Director highlights achievements of the Commission

“...In the fulfillment of its mandate, since inception the Commis­sion has awarded 8,557 pro­jects of which 3,424 projects have been completed and handed over to communities and States. There are 2,257 on-going projects whilst 2,506 are yet to be started for various reasons...”

“...The project portfo­lio is distributed across civil works such as buildings, ca­nalization and reclamation, jetties and shore protection, electrification, roads and bridges, water supply, build­ings, flood control and ero­sion and equipping, and fur­nishing of schools and health centers...”

“...The pro­gramme portfolio of the Commission covers training and capacity building for Oil spill response, Telecommu­nications, Building technol­ogy, Entrepreneurship devel­opment and Waste-to-wealth amongst others. For instance, a total of 72,000 pairs of plas­tic chairs and desks have been produced and are about to be distributed to schools across the region...”

“..The healthcare pro­grammes have been quite extensive with over 1.2 mil­lion documented patients treated, 3,500 communities visited and 6,000 referrals cases managed. Emergency relief materials were recently supplied to several commu­nities such as Okerenkoko, Oporoza, Opobo amongst others, 7 Healthcare facilities equipped, and over 30,000 protective kits against Lassa Fever distributed.”

Much ADO about A’Ibom Teachers’ recruitments hullabaloo

BY ESSIEN NDUESO

It all began when the Akwa Ibom State government announced that the widespread irregularities that bedeviled the recruitment exercise of teachers into the State secondary schools had necessitated the cancellation of the entire exercise. This decision meant that over 5000 recruited teachers with appointment letters were automatically deactivated.

Mrs Ekereobong Akpan, head of Akwa Ibom civil service in an initial statement had explained that the state government took the decision after a careful scrutiny of their engagement processes. Opening up on the development later, Governor Emmanuel told reporters that a syndicate involved in forging and awarding fake appointment letters had been nabbed and the culprits were already helping the police in the investigations. 

At that point, it was obvious that the ranks of the recruited teachers issued appointment letters in 2015 had been swollen with thousands of unqualified people, people who allegedly bribed and sorted their ways through. As Governor Emmanuel himself said, “we tried to manage the situation, but when we discovered that most of the recruited teachers could not even express themselves and had no basic qualifications, we knew that it would be a great disservice to our state, if they are allowed to teach our children out of sentiments.

Confusion as Armed Robbers invade Uniuyo ...Cart away laptops, phones ...Students groan

BY KENNETH  JUDE

The University of Uyo was thrown into confusion on Sunday when gun men numbering about ten stormed the town campus of the institution on Ikpa road at night. The suspected robbers, THE INK gathered, made their way into CBN (a popular hall in the in the university) and immediately ordered all students who were having the usual night class to bow their faces.

A student who was at the scene of the incident explained that on entering the hall; they immediately blocked all the doors and ordered everybody to lie face down. According to her, “initially, we thought it was all a joke until they brought out guns. At that point, we knew we were in for the worse. They robbed everybody of their belongings ranging from laptops, phones and other valuable things. It is so painful because this is my first time of coming for night class. I only came because of today’s exam (yesterday); now, see where it has landed me. My new laptop is gone just like that.’’

Another eye witness account has it that after taking their time to rob students of their personal belongings undisturbed, they made their way into their car and made for the gate. A student reportedly charged at them, shouting that the security men should not open the gate, but that did not deter them as they reportedly overpowered them and zoomed off.

Stamping out economic marginalization

BY EMMANUEL NICHOLAS  

Social marginalization occurs when there is a neglect of races, communities and religious sects in distributing economics amenities. This involves infrastructural, industrial, Educational, Agricultural and health care development etc.  It may be through lack of political will or it might be an intentional deprivation, to impoverish and render a specific population incapacitated in economic and political value, in order to destabilize the people from self –dependency, Self –sufficiency and political empowerment via economic   expansion. 

James David also  described  Social exclusion as a  ‘’process in which individuals or people are systematically blocked from (or denied full access to) various rights, opportunities and resources that are normally available to members of a different group, and which are fundamental to social integration within that particular group’’.

It is  therefore a known fact that economic advancement cannot be achieved by any society without social amenities, and most governments in Africa have marginalized some communities in their countries.  This is common when the majority ethnic groups predominantly form the government of such countries over time. 

PDP will abide by the rule of law, says Gov. Emmanuel

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is committed to the enhancement of democracy in the country in accordance with the fundamental principles of the rule of law.

Governor Emmanuel stated this at the Ibom International Airport on arrival from Abuja where he attended the PDP Stakeholders meeting.

He said democracy would be jeopardised in the seeming one party structure which the country is pursuing and in the circumstance the system would stifle the voice of the opposition thereby paving way for despotism which he said was not in the best interest of the country. 

“As a country we are assisting other countries to institute democracy, how come We are destroying our own?. We should not allow the country to be run like this else democracy will collapse. “

Mr Emmanuel who recalled an incidence which took place during last year’s National Convention of the Party at Rivers State, condemned in it entirety the obstruction of the stakeholdets meeting following the sealing of  International Conference Centre venue of the meeting by security agents explaining that they had to relocate to alternative venue for the meeting.