Udom’s Budget And Many Lies
By UbongAbasi Ise
“Facts are like cows. If you look them in
the face long enough, they generally run away.”
― Dorothy L.
Sayers
Sometimes, we as the people,
need to overlook our political affiliations and live above our respective biases
so that we could be sober enough to feel the naked shame whenever certain
actions and inactions bring bad tag on our shared name or harass our collective
integrity. All in the name of politics, we seem to have been glorifying
pettiness, defecate on what we should have upheld as values, and then
systematized deception. It is very regrettable
that our individual political leanings have turned out to become unfortunate
distraction of our collective mission towards our aims and aspirations as a
people. It seems as if our decency has
become very sour and loathsome.
At 2.30am on
Thursday 15th November, 2018, I was torn between the nature’s temptation to doze
off and the desire to glance through a lengthy address delivered the previous
day by the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel on the occasion of the
presentation of the 2019 budget proposals on the floors of the State House of
Assembly. Taking a cursory look with
half-asleep eyes, it was not difficult to spot lurid tissues of lies that
refused to be hidden in the sea of texts flowing freely from page to page.
Coming to the section of the address which reviewed the state government’s performance
of 2018 budget, I felt deeply disappointed to discover that it was totally
reeked of rotten lies and utter misrepresentation of facts. But how did we get
here? When did we start to build our dear state around falsehood? Here, for
wants of space, I will only limit myself to exposing just two annoying lies, and
leave the rest for another day.
Before now,
the people of the state were regaled by fairytales peddled by our dear governor
and his handlers on how the state government was able to crash the price of
garri and other cassava-related items. I
don’t know who took them serious anyway. To me, it was a pellucid indication
that the state government under Mr. Udom Emmanuel doesn’t know how its citizens
feed themselves. But when these ungodly claims of cheapening the price of garri
made their way into the budget review, it was worrisome that the present
administration is miserably losing all seriousness in the matters of governance
thereby resorting to frivolities in futile attempt to manufacture records of
achievement out of pure facts of underperformance. What make garri aplenty in the state in
Governor Emmanuel’s response as captured in his address were, “refurbishing of
Cassava Processing Factories located at Ikot Okudom, Eket LGA; Nung Udoe,
Ibesikpo/Asutan LGA and Ikot Ekang in Abak LGA and leased to private operators
for the production of high quality garri, odorless foofoo and cassava flour.
This has helped crash the price of garri from about 3 cups for 200 naira before
now to the current situation where the same 200 naira will fetch you between 9
and 12 cups.”
Perhaps the
governor wasn’t aware that the bulk of cassava products consumed today in the
state come from Cross River State. First of all, a visit to T-Junction and
Okopedi Market in Itu local government area would prove the point. At the aforementioned
locations, cassava products are brought on high commercial scale from Cross
River communities of Uyanga, Umon, Idim Ndon, Obom Itiat, Afia Isong, Idere and
various farm settlements in Biase local government area. If buyers from Akwa
Ibom are permitted to enter the cassava producing communities in Cross River
today, they can pay N200 for a 20-liter paint container full of foofoo. This
shows that the food basket of Akwa Ibom is still Cross River State. If this
fact is doubted, let the Akwa Ibom State government dare stop T-junction and
Okopedi Market or any part of the State from receiving the inflow of cassava
products from those Cross River communities,
then Akwa Ibom would know the true colour of food crisis if not outright
famine. It is an open secret that Akwa
Ibom can’t just stop depending on Cross River State for garri and foofoo. At present, a big basin of garri in places
like Ugep, Ogoja, Obubra, Odukpani, etc. is priced as low as N2,500, and the
price of a sizable bagful of garri hovers around N5,000. These are places where
Akwa Ibom traders constantly buy their cassava produce. Outside that they go as
far as Benue State to import garri into the state. Despite the giant stride the state government
claims to have recorded in the area of cassava production and food sufficiency,
the old, traditional trade routes have not been altered: Akwa Ibomites don’t
stop thronging Cross River State on regular basis in want of garri. One of the personnel
in one of the cassava processing mills established by Udom’s government, who
confided in me, said it is rather unthinkable that the insignificant quantity
of garri they produce on irregular basis would sufficiently sustain the whole
state to the extent of crashing down the price. It might be a supernatural
intervention. After all, five fishes and two loaves of bread were used to feed 4,000
hungry persons according to Holy Bible.
Why the price
of garri is very low in Cross River State, with a direct influence on Akwa Ibom?
It is because of the Federal Government’s FADAMA III additional financing
project going on, which has been conveniently integrated into the farming culture
of the good people of Cross River State. The agro project targeted 6,000 hectares for
the cultivation of cassava in 2017. Room was created to accommodate over 4,000
cassava farmers through Anchor Borrowers Scheme. As noted by Mr. Bassey Elemi,
the Cross River State Coordinator of FADAMA III project, three improved varieties
of cassava were cultivated at several locations in Cross River State. With
these, cassava become sufficient, and Akwa Ibom becomes a direct beneficiary
from the hard work and diligence of her neighboring state.
Few garri
dealers in Itam market had told yours truly in strict confidence that there was
a time Akwa Ibom State government use their agents to buy garri from them on a
commercial scale, otherwise they would go all the way to Cross River State to
bring the stuff, after which, they would re-bag and sell it to Akwa Ibom public,
6 to 8 cups at N200 during the time 3 cups were sold for that same N200. When
contacting Mr. Idorenyin Raphael, the Special Assistant to the State Governor
on Trade Matters, for confirmation over the above allegations, the response was
that he wasn’t aware but said that the cassava processing mills in Eket,
Ibesikpo/Asutan and Abak as well as those established by the wife of the state
governor, Mrs. Martha Emmanuel, through her pet project, FEYReP, in Ini and
Ibiono Ibom, have altogether provided garri sufficiently for the state. Raphael
was of opinion that even though the garri was bought in Cross River and sold to
Akwa Ibom people, it shows that his boss is a caring Governor.
That aside. Let’s
look at attempted misrepresentation of fact in the 2018 budget review. It used to be remoured that the state
government brought Atletico Madrid football club to Akwa Ibom State. Not very
surprising, the governor reechoed this on Wednesday 14th November
about the hosting of Atletico Madrid FC in an international friendly match with
the Super Eagles in Uyo. Let’s clear the air about this. The coming of Atletico
Madrid to Uyo was the avowed commitment of GOtv to dazzle Nigerians with the
best of Spanish La Liga games in response to the massive support it received
from the country’s subscribers. Yours truly was at the presentation ceremony at
Ibom Le Meridien and Golf Resort in Uyo, and was part of the team that
interviewed Mr. Akinlola Salu, the General Manager of GOtv, and Mr. Martin
Mabutho, the General Manager, Marketing and Sales of MultiChoice Nigeria. While
Akinlola Salu said, “we have brought the best of Spanish entertainment and
sports in football to Nigeria with Atletico Madrid,” Mr. Martin Mabutho
confirmed in a separate interview that that the Atletico Madrid-Nigeria match
was a way of appreciating the customers for accepting to support the company by
buying Gotv. Where did Udom come in? So whatever the state government had contributed
in that soccer fête, credit should ultimately go to GOtv.
Yes! I am UbongAbasi Ise, for
comment, please send SMS to 08189914609 |ubongabasiise@gmail.com
©The Sensor Newspaper
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