The recent dissolution of Akwa Ibom State Exco has elicited genuine concern of the APC chieftain, Prince Austin Utuk sending a caveat to His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno PhD. against recycling mediocres in his new cabinet.
Prince Austin Utuk, one of the 2023 gubernatorial aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress APC, made this known to newsmen in his Udo Eduok Estate home in Uyo recently, calling on the governor to concern himself in selecting competent technocrats who can function with minimum supervision to drive home his Arise Agenda policy.
He acknowledged the governor as the Political Leader and Chief security officer of the state and therefore called for support to enable him succeed for the benefit of all. According him, the governor must now take responsibility for whatever will happen in the state through the new cabinet he will pick. The new members would be obliged to give the governor feedback on how the people are faring under his stewardship.
Prince Utuk commended the governor for tolerating the inherited Cabinet up to the moment of their dissolution, many of whom, by the law of diminishing returns, have become huge liability to the smooth running of a nascent administration.
For the almost nineteen months in office, the APC chieftain reasoned that Pastor Umo Eno PhD, by self introspection, should know where he has not done well and then use this period to consult widely about those he must pick to form his new cabinet, adding that these people should be ripe, seasoned and tested technocrats who have excelled in their chosen areas of endeavour and will come with news ideas to offer in their given mandate.
The one time gubernatorial aspirant appraised the governor as having done well within the period he has been in office, and is expected to set a milestone in achievement by going back to all his campaign promises during the election to see how far he would go in the areas of housing, roads infrastructure and economy, given the current economic realities facing the people.
He however drew the governor’s attention to the area he has not done very well to ameliorate the suffering of the people, especially in the minimum wage to civil servants.
In his words, “the minimum wage should not be less than hundred thousand naira, Akwa Ibom can afford that. The 80 thousand naira approved as minimum wage by the governor is a disgrace to the state that is naturally well endowed with natural resources. If other states less endowed can afford to pay higher, Akwa Ibom should not be exception”. He noted.
The political chieftain also called on the governor to think of reducing cost of governance and channel the funds to subsidize a lot of things for the citizenry. He pointed out transport as one area that would have positively impact on the people. In his explanation, “one can not run a government in a state without a mass transit system. But unfortunately the state has no transport policy, and a lot of people living in the rural areas come to work in the state capital. It would be necessary that government complements reticulate network of roads with a functional mass transit system to curb rural- urban migration”. He suggested.
In his opinion, “economy sector development should not be left for Abuja alone to managed and control. We have the state economy controlled by the state, ditto local government economy, which is managed by local government authority. All the tiers of government have roles to play in stimulating the economy and creating employment opportunities for the youths.
He commended the governor for the compassionate homes to the poor and urged him to build more houses for the low income earners in the state.
©️ Written by Sunny Edemenang – Uyo
