Ahead of state congresses of the dominant political parties seeking to take control of the governorship of Akwa Ibom State, one of the biggest oil and gas states of the Niger Delta in 2023, a think tank group in the state, Eket Collective has started to set an agenda for power-seekers.
While the focus of attention in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tends to be on Lands and Water Resources Commissioner, Pastor Umo Eno, the Eket group is challenging the other strong contenders for the party’s governorship ticket to come out with their blueprint for the state.
Apart from Pastor Eno who appears to be gaining ground with the endorsement politics in the state, the other front line conters are Senator Bassey Albert popularly known as OBA, and a member of the House of Representatives, Onofiok Luke.
For Eket Collective, ‘’with the worsening bad blood in the state over the purported ‘anointing’ of Pastor Eno by Governor Udom Emmanuel as his preferred governorship aspirant to succeed him in 2023, we think a greater majority of the about eight million Akwa Ibomites need an agency that will enlighten and mobilize them for attitudinal change.
‘’We are worried why churches and the people of the state continually pray and meditate, yet, Akwa Ibom has not experienced any betterment in social behaviour, best practices in public offices, security and law enforcement, poverty reduction, unemployment menace, and political behaviour.
‘’Rather than stoke the fire, political, religious, traditional, and social leaders should encourage their followers to speak positively about Akwa Ibom with the aim of bringing positive energy and constructive ways of doing things without engaging in unnecessary negative attitudes on issues.
‘’Though there is nothing states can really do about it without a constitutional amendment, we will like to state that without constant electricity, Akwa Ibom can do little in its quest for socio-economic and industrial explosion.
“Just like Dubai in the United Arab Emirate (UAE), Akwa Ibom can be the next destination of everybody and even surpass Dubai if and only if we can perish our individual ego, and resolve to move the state forward as a family.’’
Publisher of a Christian newspaper in the state, Solomon Okpo, who is a member of the Eket group said they are pushing for the people of Akwa Ibom to always engage in constructive criticism ‘’since destructive criticism do not in any way help a bad situation. There is no gainsaying the fact a bartered negative image of a leader is quite demotivating. It leads to the underperformance of public functionaries in their responsibilities.
‘’As a publisher of The Evangelist newspaper, I know for sure that negative utterances by citizens constantly impact negatively on the spiritual and psychic radiation emanating from our society. Why Eket Collective is advocating for attitudinal change in Akwa Ibom is because If a greater majority of us do our work diligently, our state will be greater than it is today.
‘’Rather than seek to make the state ungovernable because the political pendulum didn’t swing one’s way, we are of the view that the people of Akwa Ibom should collectively harp on enthroning a competence with character and capacity to deliver tangible dividend of democracy in the state from 2023.’’
Eket Collective says Akwa Ibom is unarguably facing some challenges that does not make the Udom administration as some individuals and groups want the world to believe. Akwa Ibom is richly endowed with human and natural resources that can be exploited in transforming the state into a rapid-growing industrial habitat if properly harnessed.
