8 YEARS OF UNCOMMON PROFLIGACY & AKPABIO'S SQUANDERING OF AKWA IBOM COMMONWEALTH

By Ita Awak, APC Publicity Secretary(2015)





As Gov Godswill Obot Akpabio's regime comes to its inevitable end, it is time we, the good and long suffering people of Akwa Ibom State, do a critical stocktaking of how he used our commonwealth.

Below is a current chart published by the Federal Ministry of Finance detailing the allocations that each of our 36 States and Abuja got from the Federation Account from January to June 2014.

As the figures show, Akwa Ibom tops the chart with a staggering 135.84 Billion naira. This is approximately 5 times what our neighbouring Cross River State, with 26.50 Billion naira, took home.

Very Interestingly, it equals the 135.43 Billion naira that all the 5 Igbo-speaking South Eastern states of Abia,  Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States got. It is also noteworthy that our 135.84 Billion naira is a wee-bit more than the 132.96 Billion naira that all of Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo put together got.

Since 2007 up till date, Akwa Ibom State has got some 3 Trillion Naira from the Federation Account. Applying the same allocation formula above, it means Gov Akpabio's government has got 5 times what Cross River got; and nearly equal what the 5 Igbo-speaking States have got in the same period.

Akwa Ibom people, take a critical look at all that Akpabio has signposted as the hall marks of his so called "uncommon transformation" and ask yourselves: what is the primary responsibility of any responsible and respectable government if not the provision of basic amenities??? In this regard, what is "uncommon" about a government building roads, renovating some selected schools, constructing a stadium and investing in a wasteful white elephant project called "Tropicana Entertainment Complex???"

In any event,  I have consistently asserted that considering the staggering volume of money that we've got from the Federation Account since Gov Godswill Obot Akpabio entered the Hilltop mansion, it is patently and totally wrong to palm of his meagre achievements as icons of "uncommon" infrastructural development. In view that our total revenue under Gov Akpabio's watch is about 5 times that of Cross River State and equal that of the 5 Igbo-speaking South Eastern states, we can only be correct to say Akpabio has recorded "uncommon transformation" if all that his government has achieved in terms of infrastructural development, employment generation, security, education and health is 5 times what Cross River has chalked or it approximates what ALL the 5 South Eastern states have achieved within the same time frame. We are giving this generous latitude without considering population and land mass.

Truth be told, I am inclined to believe that the Godswill Akpabio era has been a period of uncommon profligacy and fiscal recklessness. Indeed, when we factor in Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's revelatory and uncontroverted assertion that what the Godswill Obot Akpabio's administration has spent on infrastructure since he assumed power in 2007 is less than 5% of the total Federal Allocations to the State, one cannot help but conclude the Akwa Ibom people have been criminally shortchanged and fleeced eight years running.

Akwa Ibom people, it is time we all rise and demand of Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio to furnish us with a clear record of how he spent the about 3 Trillion Naira that accrued to the State since he became our governor. We want to know how much we are owing who and why. Akwa Ibom people want to know why there is unprecedented mass unemployment of our youths and why there is so much hunger in our land in spite of our enormous petrodollar.