Senator-Elect for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District and frontline contender for the position of next Senate President of Nigeria, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has called on the people of Akwa Ibom State to vote for Obong Akan Udofia, the guber candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as their next Governor because of the enormous benefits the state stands to gain by aligning with the APC federal government at the centre, to be led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu from May 29, 2023, even as he assured Nigerians of the readiness of the 10th Senate to address the security and welfare of its citizens immediately the law making body is inaugurated in June, 2023.
Senator Akpabio stated this while speaking to the media shortly after receiving his Certificate Of Return as the duly elected Senator for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, from the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) in Abuja on Tuesday, March 7th, 2023.
According to the former Senate Minority Leader, popularly addressed with his “uncommon transformation” sobriquet, in recognition of the massive transformation Akwa Ibom state witnessed in virtually all sectors, during his tenure as Governor, “let me call on our peace and development loving people of Akwa Ibom State, to come out enmase and cast their votes for Obong Udofia on Saturday, because of the enormous benefits that the state stands to gain from the government of Udofia in the state and the APC-led federal government that would be led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from May 29 this year.”
On why his constituents re-elected him to the Senate, the former Minister Niger Delta Affairs said, “they know I am tested and trusted and they know that I will do my best to protect their interest at the national front. They know that at the end, I will bring more dividends of democracy to Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District.”
Giving a hint on the issues that are likely to be given priority when the new Senate session is inaugurated, Senator Akpabio said: “Nigerians expect a lot from this 10th Senate basically because of the calibre of people that have been elected into the Senate this time around. They expect quality, effective and robust representations from their lawmakers and nothing short of that would be acceptable to them.”
He promised to pay serious attention to the welfare of the youths who constitute a significant percentage of our productive population, saying, “the welfare and progress of our teeming youths would be taken very seriously. We have more occurrence of youth restiveness in the country and so we must address the concerns of the youths. That means we must put in place legislations that would address and boost our economic policies for the positive engagement of our youths in different areas of our economy.
“We have to tackle issues that would lead to better security for our people across board. When the welfare of our youths are taken care of, we will have peace which is a major ingredient needed for economic, social and infrastructure developments. With all these in place, we would have automatically, taken a lot of burdens off them, which would also lead to the reduction in crime and youth restiveness”.
According to the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, “that is one area I think I will focus on and of course, decayed infrastructure is everywhere. Governments before and now have done their best in the past. I also did my best when I had the opportunity but still, a lot more has to be done. If you look at federal roads adjourning my senatorial district they are in terrible state.
“For instance, from Ikot Ekpene to Aba, for years, nobody has been able to pass there. Then you have the Nkari road and the one that leads to Ikono area. My people in those areas are living in misery. And of course, you look at Iwukem, all the way to Ukanafun to Ikot Abasi; the road is terrible and there is insecurity everywhere. Sometimes, a local government will stay from one to two years without occupants in various houses because they are running away from being exposed to danger due to its accessibility to bandits”.
Akpabio stated further, “I think we have a lot to tackle in terms of infrastructure and of course, you combine that with creating employment opportunities for the youths. I also want to do more by making sure that the youths with certificates in their hands do not have to look for employments. They should become self-employed and the best way to do that is to encourage small and medium scale enterprises.
“So there are a lot of issues we believe the next government will focus on and from the National Assembly, we will back them up with laws and good budgeting processes to ensure that all these succeed”.