Akwa Ibom has no economy, over 52% of youths unemployed – APC guber aspirant

An All Progressives Congress Governorship aspirant, Professor Chris Ekong, has described the industries by the present administration in Akwa Ibom as phoney and overrated.

Ekong, who is a Professor of Economics at the University of Uyo also lamented that more than 52 percent of the youth population in the state are still unemployed.

Speaking with newsmen in Uyo over the weekend, the governorship hopeful challenged the state government to publish the Internally Generated Revenue from the acclaimed industries.

He bemoaned the level of deception the present government has employed to swindle the state, stressing that the CCTV cameras where over 10 billion naira was budgeted for “nobody have seen it till date.

“There is a difference between an industry and a shop. What we are witnessing in this state is very heartbreaking.

“Industry is not about open today for groundbreaking and closing tomorrow. If they are sincere, they should tell us their equity participation, how many people they employed, their turnovers, and where they sell the products.

“Even the recently commissioned coconut refinery, Akwa Ibom has no equity participation. If it has let them show us. How can they plant on salty soil? I don’t know who gave them such an idea.”

The gubernatorial aspirant said his emergence was to redeem the state by righting all the wrongs against the people of the state in all sectors of the economy.

He said, “Deep look through the economy of Akwa Ibom State over the last seven years indicates serious misalignments that have veered the economy off its gauge.

“To return the Akwa Ibom State economy to the standard gauge that was designed for her by early patriots and visionaries, very serious and strategic retooling and realignment must be undertaken.

“To achieve the strategic retooling and realignment of the Akwa Ibom State economy, a cocktail of strategic economic policies that will seek to promote a market-based economy that is propelled by the public (government) will be adopted.”

In the area of industrialisation, Ekong noted that his government will particularly, focus on raising feasible industries and no more lip service to the people.

“I will encourage cottage industries by working with and emboldening known local technologies with understandable technological augmentation to increase output and efficiency while reducing input cost and man-hours used in production.

“I will particularly focus on palm oil-producing mills already run by women cooperatives, cassava processing mills, and animal feeds processing mills, among others.

“I will further build cottage industrial clusters, especially among operational activities in the informal sector, like artisans, providing alternative power resources,” he added.