Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, has reeled out achievements in the last 8 years and urged the people to unite as his successor, pastor Umo Eno is competent to bring more positive developments in the years ahead.
In a statewide broadcast on Monday to mark the Easter holiday, Governor Emmanuel recounted several achievements in different sectors of the economy and solicited cooperation from the incoming administration in the state.
He listed the achievements to include massive road infrastructure, Healthcare delivery, Aviation development through Ibom Airline, Agriculture, and Education.
Others include rural developments, Skill and Entrepreneurship, Manpower training, and industrialization which has provided employment to indigenes of the state.
The governor recalled that the present administration in the state came with five points agenda which was later increased to the right points in the second term just to deliver dividends of democracy to the people.
He said the task of governance is challenging but his team came prepared with a clearly defined blueprint anchored on the need to expand frontiers of development through rapid industrialization and the provision of soft and rapid infrastructures.
“As I get ready to take a bow next month, I am eminently proud and assured that I will be leaving this State better than I met her, and in the capable, tested, and steady hands of the Governor-Elect, Pastor Umo Eno, who, I believe will further carry the torch of peace, development, growth, and unity of our dear people.
“Let me use this opportunity to again thank our people for the peaceful manner you trooped out during the last Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections and exercised your Constitutional franchise.
“From all accounts, including those of the Foreign Observers, the election was peaceful, free, credible, and a profound and wholesome expression of the collective will and desire of you, my dear people.
“You voted for the continuation of all that we have started and achieved in the last almost eight years. You voted for the furtherance of peace, for growth, for development, and for our unity.”
Governor Udom Emmanuel observed that the hard investment in infrastructure has put the state on the front burner of national discourse as funds accrued to the state in past years have been well utilised.
“Our investments in hard infrastructure today have put our State on the front burner of the national discourse on how a sub-national could utilize the lean resources available to impact lives and create enduring infrastructure.
“With faith in what God has blessed us with, and with the prudent application of the resources available, we have constructed, expanded, and opened up the State with a world-class road network. From Uyo to Ikot Ekpene to Eket, our State can be accessed and linked seamlessly, via a network of world-class roads without any potholes. ”
He noted that the three senatorial districts in the state have a fair share of quality and economically viable roads.
“Without naming all the roads we have constructed in the last almost eight years, but who can forget the world-class 29-kilometer Uyo-Ikot Ekepene road that we met at less than three kilometers, but which we have completed and commissioned, and today, has reduced the commuting time from Uyo to Ikot Ekpene to less than thirty minutes, thus opening up the famed Raffia City for economic activities and better quality of life for the residents.
“Thee Idongesit Nkanga/Clement Isong 10-Lane super-highway also known as the 3-Ring Road has shown the world what a determined and purpose-driven sub-national can do, once the passion is right.
“This hugely economically viable road is the only of such roads in the nation, to be constructed by a sub-national and is on the same scope and beauty as the Airport Road in Abuja, done by the Federal Government.
“The spectacular Etinan-Ndon Eyo Road has been constructed and commissioned, thus linking Uyo to East-West Road that connects us to Rivers and Bayelsa States respectively and enhances the free movement of goods and services in those two contiguous States. Also. the Eket–Ibeno Road was commissioned within the first year of this administration, thus alleviating the horrors of commuters to the oil-producing areas of Ibeno.”
He extended an olive branch to political opponents urging them to join hands to build the state despite their political leanings.
