Nsima Ekere Manifesto Full Text
THE NEW VISION FOR OUR COLLECTIVE PROSPERITY -
#5PillarsOfChange
A Manifesto by Obong Nsima Ekere
APC Governorship Candidate, Akwa Ibom State
The Solemn Assembly which flagged off our APC’s
Governorship and State Assemblies Campaign yesterday marked the beginning of
our countdown to a New Dawn in Akwa Ibom State. After three and half years of
failed promises, stunted growth and stranded development, Akwa Ibom is about to
restart its long walk to greatness. The ambitious development roadmap of our
state, designed by the architect of modern day Akwa Ibom, His Excellency, Arc
(Obong) Victor Attah, and built upon by his successor HE Senator, Godswill
Akpabio, has been derailed. It is time to get our State back on track.
Since May 29, 2015, we have witnessed the slow
deterioration of our physical, economic and social infrastructure. In spite of
our position as the highest producer of oil and gas, with abundant natural,
mineral, agricultural and aquaculture resources, Akwa Ibom posts very high
levels of poverty and joblessness. One in two Akwa Ibom person of working age
has no job! We are the State with the second highest unemployment rate in
Nigeria. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 1.8 million of
the 3.3 million economically active population of Akwa Ibom State is
unemployed. That means, more than half of our working population is out of
work.
Education is no longer a passport to a better life as
many of our well trained and skilled people roam the streets unable to find
decent work to earn a living. Poverty, joblessness and hopelessness have
triggered a wave of violence, restiveness and insecurity across the State.
In Education, the State’s performance in the West Africa
School Certificate Examination (WASCE) dropped from No.14 in 2015 to No.17 in
2018, reflecting the impact of poor funding, poor learning environment, poor
teacher–student ratio, and lack of the right motivation for teachers. Our budget for education has been
consistently below the UNESCO recommended minimum of 26 percent. At 1.6 percent
for 2018 and the same level maintained for 2019, we are grossly underfunding
the future of our children and grandchildren.
Infant mortality rate in the State is one of the highest
in the Country today with 69 deaths per thousand. Our aged ones have not retired well because
they are often owed their gratuities and pension. We cannot continue like this.
Every four years, the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria offers us an opportunity to reshape our future by choosing
the right political party and candidates to lead, define and direct our growth
and prosperity. Since 1999, Akwa Ibom
State has placed its faith and trust in a party, whose faulty leadership
recruitment process, especially since 2015 have impoverished us and translated
into the sad state of affairs that we experience today.
Moving Akwa Ibom away from today’s pains requires a full
embrace of APC’s promise of prosperity and change. As the party’s Governorship
candidate in the March 2019 elections, my call to serve is founded on the need
to offer Akwa Ibom State a new vision for our collective prosperity; one that
affords our people a State in which their best dreams are realized and the
expectations met; a State rich in opportunities and the resources to exploit them;
a State where every citizen will have an inalienable right to a decent living.
I want to serve as your Governor because the good and
hardworking people of Akwa Ibom deserve better than they are getting from the
current administration. Akwa Ibom deserves the best in Education, Health,
Infrastructure, Rural Development, Jobs, Wealth Creation, Security and much
more. Our children deserve the right
foundation, training and environment to become global champions. Our young ones deserve transformational opportunities
to launch unto greatness.
Throughout history, Akwa Ibom has always been a State of
big ideas and big dreams. This is the
State of Brigadier Udoakagha Jacob Esuene’s Champion Breweries, Mercantile
Bank, Manilla Insurance, Investment Trust Company. This is the State of Dr.
Clement Isong’s University of Cross River State (now University of Uyo),
Sunshine Batteries, Qua Steel Mill and Quality Ceramics; of Obong Victor
Attah’s Ring Roads, Akwa Ibom State University of Technology, Ibom Power, L’
Meridien Ibom Hotel and Ibom International Airport, which his successor, Chief
Godswill Akpabio completed and put to use for the benefit of the State. This is the State of Godswill Akpabio’s
Sports stadium, Specialist hospital, a befitting Government House Complex, the
e-library, Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, and world-class Infrastructure.
We want to think big and dream big again. We will
overhaul the education sector, recreate the economy, expand infrastructure,
revive health services and build a society where the poor is well protected. In
all of this, my great Party and I will be sincere with and accountable to the
Akwa Ibom people. My administration will have zero tolerance for corruption and
we will manage your resources prudently, transparently and efficiently.
Our policies and programmes will aim to create jobs and
opportunities, promote private enterprises who will build industries and
businesses that transcend the boundaries of our State and Country. On the short term, we will focus on
reflating the economy. In addition to
our direct job creation initiatives, we shall institute and enforce explicit
local content requirements in all Government projects and programmes. Overall,
our policies and programmes should create 400,000 direct and indirect jobs
every year.
THE NEW VISION
The strategic focus of my administration will be to build
a better tomorrow filled with opportunities, unity and hope for all Akwa Ibom
people. Our policies and programmes will be motivated by the collective
aspirations of our people for a rich, prosperous and safe State founded on
social justice and equality for all. The
new vision for our collective prosperity is anchored on five thematic
areas. We call them the Five Pillars of
Change. These are:
Economic Prosperity.
Infrastructure
and Rural Development.
Education,
Health and Social Protection.
Security.
Governance and
Institutional Reforms.
PILLAR ONE:
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
My topmost priority will be to address the twin
challenges of mass unemployment and poverty with massive investment in public
works by rebuilding public facilities and expanding the State’s stock of hard
infrastructure. Also, we will adopt and
implement APC’s very successful conditional cash transfer schemes, empower the
youths with training and funding to function as Transformative Entrepreneurs
and launch a number of other initiatives to drive growth and create
opportunities for all. Every investment must be employment sensitive.
For quick impact within the first 100 – 180 days in
office, my administration will:
Embark on
massive public works to reflate the economy, create jobs and put money in the
pocket of artisans, suppliers, and contractors.
Flag off
conditional cash transfers of N5,000 to the extreme poor, N5,000 to orphans,
N100,000 per delivery for multiple birth mothers and N5,000 for the physically
challenged, in addition to their participation in a skill acquisition
programme.
Empowerment
training and funding for transformative entrepreneurs
Roll out the Graduate Farmers Scheme and
other agricultural programmes
Address all
outstanding pensions, gratuities, Local Government workers’ salaries, primary
school teacher’s entitlements and allowances.
Domesticate key
Federal Government economic programmes like the MSME Clinic, the Bank of
Industry sponsored GEEP project, Anchor Borrowers Programme, and NIRSAL.
On a longer term, my Administration will launch the
following programmes and policy actions:
Launch a N20
billion fund to raise a critical mass of transformative entrepreneurs (TEs) who
will use creativity and innovation to grow the private sector and create
wealth. About 6,000 TEs will be produced and empowered every year (24,000 in
four years) to stimulate the economy and create no less than 120,000 jobs.
Restructure and
recapitalise AKICORP with N50 billion and reposition it to leverage up to N500
billion of private sector funds to promote and attract investments in oil and
gas, agriculture, health, tourism, aviation, manufacturing, and Information,
Communication and Technology (ICT) into the State.
Create an
Enterprise Development Fund, EDF and seed it with N5 billion annually to
provide collateral-free, single digit loans to SMEs.
Undertake a
number of initiatives in agriculture to create jobs, engage our young people
and promote our drive towards self-sufficiency in food production. Our
initiatives will include:
Establishment of Commodities Trading Cooperatives (CTC) to promote and
manage trades in export commodities like palm produce, rubber, cassava value
chain, rice, and aquaculture.
Launch a
Graduate Farmers Scheme and promote the participation of 500 youths from each
of the 31 Local Government Areas or 15,500 per annum in farming and as
extension agents.
Set up
three model Songhai Farms in the State
Launch
Community Farming Initiatives (CFIs) under which we will have the following:
Community Fishing Development Initiatives
Community Food Crop Production Initiatives and Community Cash Crop
Development Initiative.
Massive oil
palm production through large-scale replanting of high-yielding seeds and
distribution of short duration cultivars to replace and eventually phase out
low yielding ones.
Aim to make
Akwa Ibom one of the top rice growing States in Nigeria.
TOURISM
DEVELOPMENT: We will State to harness its tourism potential to attract
domestic, foreign visitors and investors. The State’s extensive coastline will
be developed for its tourism potential and all existing hospitality
infrastructure such as the Ibom Hotel, the Four Points by Sheraton, the
Tropicana Entertainment Complex, and the Ibom Unity Park will be put to optimal
use. As part of our tourism development programme, we will launch an aggressive
programme to promote our Akwa Ibom Cuisines across Nigeria and the world like
the Chinese, Indians, and Mexicans have done.
PILLAR TWO:
INFRASTRUCTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
An assessment of all ongoing and abandoned State
Government projects will be conducted to determine the extent of government
investment in the sector, identify projects that have been abandoned with the
aim of completing all ongoing and abandoned projects. New projects award under
my administration will be complementary to existing projects to ensure the
integration of major towns, villages and local government headquarters to Uyo
through our ONE Akwa Ibom initiative, an ambitious programme to link all local
government headquarters by dualized motorways.
For quick impact in the first 100 -180 days in office, my
administration will
Initiate an
audit of on-going key infrastructure projects to determine their respective
status
Resume work on
the Uyo- Ikot Ekpene Road
Start the
process of putting the Four Points by Sheraton to use
Resume work on
Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Complex
Commence work
on the Third Ring Road, Uyo.
Commence the
review and implementation of the Ibom Science Park project
On the longer term, particular attention will be paid to
the following Infrastructure projects;
Collaborate
with the Federal Government on the proposed construction and dualization of the
Abak – Ekparakwa – Ette and Ekparakwa-Ukanafun-Iwukem-Agbor Hill Trunk A Roads.
Collaborate
with the Federal Government on the proposed construction of the Ikot Ekpene
-Aba Road.
Proceed with
the immediate commencement of work on the Third Ring Road in Uyo.
Fast track the
Urban renewal of two towns in each Senatorial District
Open the access
road to the Ibom Deep Seaport.
Renew the Port
City of Oron to boost its status as a historic centre of learning, commercial
and cultural excellence.
The eight local
government areas of Ukanafun, Ini, Ika, Oruk Anam, Mkpat Enin, Ibesikpo Asutan,
Ibiono and Ikono will be declared Special Development Areas that require
special infrastructure interventions.
The Ibom Deep Seaport:
My government will support the delivery of the project
and further engage the private sector with similar projects to ensure they are
actualized.
The Ibom Science and Technology Park:
My vision is to review and complete this project and make
it a major technology hub with focus on ICT – based businesses, business
process outsourcing, technology innovation, coding, and STEAM activities. We
will deepen the collaboration (which I midwifed during my time at the NDDC)
with Microsoft and Google to provide affordable and cheap broadband
connectivity for the State.
The Power Sector:
My goal for the power sector is to achieve:
70 percent grid
connection
Strategic
interventions in transmission and distribution Infrastructure to ensure state
wide uninterrupted power supply. .
Deploy
alternative and renewable energy sources to communities that are off-grid to
Power-Up Akwa Ibom.
Strengthen the
capacity of the Rural Electrification Agency.
Victor Attah International Airport:
The State will partner the Federal Government to complete
and operationalize the Ibom Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO)
facility. Similarly, work will commence
on the Cargo Terminal along with the establishment of the Victor Attah Airport
Industrial City to support light manufacturing. We will explore the possibility
of acquiring equity stake in an airline with a strong brand name and
reputational capital.
Rural Development:
Some of the initiatives to be implemented in the 31 LGAs
under our comprehensive Rural Transformation Initiative include:
The completion
of a comprehensive rural electrification programme to achieve at least 50
percent coverage of grid connection.
Develop with
subsidized power Centres for Non-Farmactivities such as welding, tailoring,
hair dressing, etc. open up rural roads to assist farmers in the evacuation of
farm products and development of non-farm rural activities;
the adoption of
a policy to tar two (2) rural roads linking communities to their LGA
headquarters;
the development
of mini water schemes, in partnership with local government councils, through
the comprehensive mapping of the state to determine areas of needs and
locations;
PILLAR THREE:
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SOCIAL PROTECTION
EDUCATION:
Akwa Ibom State was renowned for the quality of its
schools, and could boast of having the best teachers. It is a matter for deep
regret, that from this glorious past, we have moved down from 14th position in
2015 to 17th in 2018 in the WAEC ranking and to a point where our public
education system is in complete shambles. The entire foundation school system
requires a complete overall.
Within the first 100 – 180 days, we will:
Declare a state
of emergency in the education sector and convene a summit of stakeholders and
experts to discuss and adopt the way forward for the sector.
Increase
support for our students in tertiary institutions by raising student bursary
from N5,000 to N25,000 per session
Institute an
annual award for the overall best-performing secondary school in the State in
WASCE/NECO exams
Institute an
annual award for the best-performing secondary school in the sciences in the
state in WASCE/NECO
The new school system of our dream must reflect our
ambition to raise global leaders of tomorrow in public administration, science
and technology. If our children must be
great, and their days glorious, we must build the foundation for their future
greatness today. Present school curriculum will be reviewed to reflect 21st
century realities.
We will computerize the teaching and learning processes
in our schools and tweak our educational curriculum to favor the skills and
competencies demanded by the modern world supports our ambition to raise world
leaders.
We are totally committed to a dramatic increase in
funding education from the current 1.6 percent of the State budget to a
progressive increment towards meeting the UNESCO target of 25 percent by 2023.
A special intervention fund of N30 billion will be
considered for the upgrade of libraries, laboratories, sport facilities,
construction of new school blocks, and generally improve the learning
environment for our children throughout the State.
A programme to decongest overpopulated schools by
building new ones in the same localities will be implemented within two years
of my assumption of office. A committee of experts will be raised to help
government work through the new way of educating the Akwa Ibom child.
HEALTH
The cornerstone of our administration’s health policy is
Health with Hope; a strategy to reverse the indicative negative health indices
of the State, restore hope in our people and offer a system that makes
deliberate efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of our people.
Two major considerations will drive our administration’s
BHI strategy in health care delivery:
BHI will ensure
better access to cost effective, quality health care, provided through primary
and secondary health care facilities in the State; and
BHI will ensure
a substantial and sustained investment of our resources to establish and
develop state-of-the-art tertiary health care facilities that meet
international standards of quality health care. This will facilitate new jobs
for our people in the health sector, reverse medical tourism and will generate
revenue for the State which we will reinvest to continually improve health care
delivery.
Some of our BHI strategy will include:
institute a
comprehensive health policy titled Better Health + Care Initiative (BHI)
renovate /
build and equip them with modern facilities and trained manpower 10 secondary
health care centres in the 10 Federal Constituencies
supplement
general hospitals with cottage hospitals and equip them with functional
facilities and relevant technology;
renovate,
modernize and adequately staff the State’s existing 424 primary health care
centres to ensure access and availability of primary health care;
provide
accelerated training of all categories of medical personnel to alleviate the
existing shortages;
establish the
Ibom Medical Cityas a flagship project using existing facilities at the Ibom
Specialist Hospital to provide tertiary medical services to our people and to
serve as a regional centre of medical excellence.
partner with
Local Government Councils to establish a rural arm of BHI, titled Better Rural
Health+Care Initiative BrHI), which will be a preventive health care service on
malaria, diabetes and blood pressure control, immunization and vaccination, as
well as ante and post-natal care. The lives of our people matter.
provide a new
ambulance scheme (BHI+Ambulance) to handle medical emergencies. BHI+Ambulance
will begin with 15 ambulance services: five (5) in Uyo metropolis and one each
for the 10 Federal Constituencies. Within the first year we would have
established one in each local government, attached to the local government
headquarters.
SOCIAL PROTECTION
Our government will:
establish the
State Health Insurance Scheme (SHIS), to adequately address issues pertaining
to the availability and accessibility of quality health care in the State;
provide free
and comprehensive medical care to children below five years of age, and the
elderly who are 65 years of age and above;
establish
nursing homes in each of the Senatorial districts for the elderly who lack
family care;
design social
protection policy to cover the most vulnerable among our people, including
people living with disability, the aged, poor widows, orphans, etc;
provide a
Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme which will cover the very poor among
our people who will be identified by the State Social Protection Policy as
follows:
N5,000.00 to
the extremely poor
Poor
multiple-birth mothers to receive (one-off) N100,000.00
Orphans to
receive N5,000 through foster parents
Poor
handicapped persons to receive N5,000, in addition to skill training
GENDER, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN
We will domesticate the National Gender Policy including
meeting the 35% target of women and youth participation in governance through
affirmative action; mainstream gender equality concerns into all sectors of the
economy both in the public and private sector; ensure women are given the
political support/entitlement needed for substantial participation in political
and economic processes and put in place, programmes to reduce maternal and
child mortality rates in the State.
We will enforce the Child’s Rights Act in Akwa Ibom State
and expand the Federal Government free nutritional meals for children in all
public primary schools.
PILLAR FOUR:
SECURITY
Immediate implementation and disbursement of funds for
the proposed unemployment and poverty reduction programmes to address the
fundamental causes of insecurity.
In our first 100 – 180 days in Office, we will convene a
Security Council meeting on the conflict of the border communities. Decisions
reached at the meeting would be implemented immediately, also we will;
Resettle
Internally Displaced Persons in their homes
Provide
security patrol vehicles per local government
Conduct an
assessment with the aim of rehabilitating infrastructure and community assets
destroyed as a result of the conflicts.
PILLAR FIVE:
GOVERNANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
There is no doubt that both governance deficit and
institutional weakness cut across the public and private sectors of the State.
When such lapses become glaring, the State cannot be attractive for any type of
investment, development and progress can also be effectively undermined.
Some of the steps to be taken by our government to
confront these lapses include the following:
Restore
financial autonomy to local governments
Adopt
zero-based budgeting in place of envelope style budgeting
Zero tolerance
for corruption and impunity.
Reforms of
regulatory institutions will be undertaken in order to remove outdated laws and
replace them with development-friendly ones.
Law enforcement
Agencies will be strengthened to enhance efficiency in their operations.
Deliberate
strategies will be adopted to improve the business competitiveness ranking of
Akwa Ibom State. On the World Bank ranking of Ease of Doing Business in
Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State was missing on the list of five States that made the
cut.
An Executive
Bill will be introduced in the State House of Assembly to pass the application
of Project Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) into law.
An Executive
Bill will be sent to the State House of Assembly to institutionalize continuity
in development planning beyond a political regime.
Reposition and
ensure that the civil servants will receive their entitlement when due. This is
consistent with the place of the Civil Service as the engine room of
government.
Training
programmes, promotion and other development issues in the interest of Civil
Servants will receive the due attention of government.
9.0. CONCLUSION
Our Five-point ONE Akwa Ibom agenda is both a covenant
and a pledge, made before you this day, and before God Almighty, to redress the
sad reality of our developmental challenge and set us all on the path of our
collective prosperity.
We live in changing times. The best of yesterday may be
grossly inadequate for tomorrow. These times require creative, versatile and
transformational leadership, not a transactional one; an innovative thinker to
lead the charge into a new phase of growth and prosperity. I am the man you can
trust to bring 21st century strategies to address the 21st century challenges
that confront our people and State.
The 2019 general election is all about you: It is about the 1.8 million young Akwa Ibom
men and women without jobs and the opportunity to earn a decent living. It is about the civil servants and pensioners
who have been denied their legitimate entitlements over the past three and half
years. It is about communities whose
roads have been degraded and they can no longer access their home with ease. It
is about handouts on the eve of elections, about teachers, disrespected,
despised and denied the reward and recognitions they deserve.
It is about misrule and wrong priorities, it is about
arrogance of leadership and democratic intolerance. It is about transparency in
governance, about grand lies and deceit. It is about local governments’
councils, the chairmen, councilors and executives who are forced monthly to
sign off their legitimate Federal Allocations so that the Government at the
State can spend it on everything except the people and the local governments
that own the resource. It is about starving the people and the systems for
three years to stockpile the financial armoury to subdue them at election time.
I am stepping into the ring to fight for you, build
bridges of hope and opportunities, to unite Akwa Ibom behind a common vision of
greatness. I am stepping in to bring
real peace and healing to our brothers and sisters in Ika, Etim Ekpo and
Ukanafun.
In the past decade, I have served this State in various
capacities and I have a track record of working on the side of the people. At
my current position as Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development
Commission, Akwa Ibom has remained uppermost in my heart even as I serve the
region of nine states.
When I am elected governor, I will give my whole-hearted
devotion to the call and responsibilities of office everyday of the four years
that your mandate and the tenure allow. My administration will be fully
dedicated to the welfare of our people, and will be accountable to only God and
the good people of Akwa Ibom State. I will operate an interactive and
all-inclusive administration.
As your Governor, I will be your voice and your
eyes. I will work and fight for you. I
will defend your best interest. I promise to make a positive difference in the
lives of our people and with your support I will not fail.
I appeal to all Akwa Ibom people to vote for me. Your
thumb print is the key to the new Akwa Ibom of our dream. You have within you
the voice to speak a new dawn into being for our people. For your Vote is your
Voice!
God bless the All Progressives Congress!
God bless Akwa Ibom State!!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
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