Following recent endorsement of Pastor Umo Eno Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources by the AKwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel as his preferred successor for 2023, one of the gubernatorial aspirants, Hon. James Iniama, has said he will not be distracted but remains focused to his aspiration and nothing will stop him from contesting the primaries on the platform of People Democratic Party (PDP). Excerpts from Joshua Omoloye, Politics Editor.
Q:The Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources has been endorsed as a preferred successor of Gov Udom in 2023 . How do you react in view of your aspiration to become governor in 2023.?
I have told you that I have been a private person throughout and as a young person , I was a trader selling groundnut , palm oil and even cigarette during Nigeria civil war. I never saw a child who carries groundnut or banana and you told the child to call another groundnut seller for you . The child obviously wants to trade in her own wares . What I am saying is that I am focussed on my conviction which is aspiring to be the governor of AKwa Ibom state . We are looking forward to the party primaries when the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) will announce the time table. So , for the time being, I am staying focused. I am deaf to destructions . I am pursuing the cause for which I have consulted my family members and they have agreed wholeheartedly and supported it . I have consulted my friends , professional colleagues, political supporters so I want to appeal that we stay focused avoiding distraction in the guise of endorsement . I have my own agenda . Don’t tell me to leave my own game and join another person . So, let’s stay focused to what James Iniama is riding towards 2023. I am preparing for governorship
primaries in AKwa Ibom , waiting for when INEC would announce the time table and we should be guided by it. I believe we should be having consultation which should be at a very quiet level and should be in line with rules and regulations . I am staying focused on my own agenda . I am not pursuing any other person’s agenda in the name of
endorsement.
What do you bring to the table for Akwa Ibom people that other aspirants could not.?
You are asking me as if I have gone out to ask other aspirants and they have given me their own agenda . No! I haven’t. So you can’t ask me what I have brought to the table that other aspirants don’t have. I rather say what I have brought to the table must meet the needs of the teeming AKwa Ibom people . I am not aspiring to serve the agenda of other aspirants but aspiring to serve the agenda of approximately eight million people . That is my aspiration . Therefore , I bring to the table the issues that I know will satisfy their needs . If you ask me what is critical to my mind, I would say topmost in my mind today is education of the people. There is so much that is undone in our educational sector . We want to build an AKwa Ibom state of educated sons and daughters not the state of illiterate people . Neither the state of half educated people . We are looking at introducing education that would make our sons and daughters as competitive as possible . We are looking 2023 .The world is moving and completely
digitalize. We have to look at improving on men and women who teach and impact knowledge to our children. We will need quality teachers to teach our children . Teachers who are specialized because there are schools where Physics teachers teaching Mathematics without specialization . We need to train our teachers . We used to have
teachers whose main duty is to teach Hand and Craft where we learned how to weave basket, make brooms etc but today such specialzed teachers are no more in our school system . I am also looking at building infrasturcture and create healthy learning environment in schools. I am not talking of paying lip service to this state . I come from a
village . Sometimes , I am the one doing cleaning of the primary school in my village. So, we will improve on school infrasturcture . When we talk , we are not resting our discussion on information . We would undertake database of available infrasturcture in our educational institutions. We call it in my profession ” Inventory of the Asset ” that would give us what we would easily refer as the schedule of repairs and dilapidation. Apart from education, we embark on agriculture to deal with our food insufficiency . I am looking at planning a good agricultural policy.
We would encourage subsistent farming so that every family will have enough food to eat. In 2019, when I contested the governorship of this state , we had a enough documents that would have served as a blueprint for implementation of agriculture programmes . Let’s make Agriculture commercial despite its challenges such as access to land , lack of modern Agricultural tools and lack of access to modern Agricultural methods.
As you are ready to contest for governorship seat in Akwa Ibom state, what are the areas in the state that need attention which you intend to touch?
Akwa Ibom state was created in 1987 . And we have grown to hear that ” Rome was not built in a day” Don’t forget Uyo was a local government headquarter. I came to Uyo on 21st February , 1985. And I can say confidently that Uyo ; though a local government headquarter was still an urban village. Most of what we see in Uyo today were not there .So, if you take from the day Governor Tunde Ogbeha ( the first Military Governor of the state)was received from Okom River boundary between Cross River and Akwa Ibom state , up till today , when you come to Uyo, you are faced with the challenge of turning the urban village into a state capital very suddenly. At a time , we had the University of Cross River State now University of Uyo . Thank God we had Cross River Television Station now Akwa Ibom Broadcasting Corporation ( AKBC) , we had Champion Breweries, Plasto Crown, Auto Park, Qua Steel company in Eket . Other companies in the state were : Quality Ceramics at Itu, Sunshine Batteries , Ikot Ekpene, Biscuit , Cement Factory, Asbestonit and Palm Mill Industries in Abak local government area. But these were only foundational industries that could help us to evolve . Since the administrative headquarter of the state has been settled with befitting edifices of a state. Tunde Ogbeha , Godwin Abbe, Obong Akpan Isemin found themselves in that realm of development. And then came Obong Victor Attah as an Architect and a Planner . Attah said , come
we need to have orderliness in the state through master plan. He then gave the master plan that defined the nature of development of the State. That is the template of which I believe every administration in
the state can ride on . But you see, if you talk of a Master Plan , it is dynamic .We have come to a point where that master plan of development of our dear state would be revised. Now , come governor Udom Emmanuel . Udom came and initiated the cluster industrial development . I thank God we are now going to have the Free Trade Zone
, Deep Sea Port etc. Obong Victor Attah started the airport, Governor Udom Emmanuel has brought Ibom Air . We are still at development stage of our state. So , if you look at the state , let me challenge you , on the day it rains just step out to any local government area of this state , the immediate challenge that confront us is flood. We still need to develop infrastructure of this state . So what are we going to do? We would address that immediate need through preparation of an Auto Photo Map of the state. The map will simply tell us exactly what the lay up of the entire state to ensure integrated development plan of the state because the way this state grow very soon , we would have a one – city state. So everything would be well planned and lay down in a manner that there would be no chaos when we get into development of the state. There is more to be done . So we must prepare to step into
the shoes of our past leaders who have laid this foundation with commitment and patriotism to the people.
How would you improve on the unemployment status of Akwa Ibom state?
Thank God governor Udom Emmanuel has come with industrialization policy .For me , it is a policy to latch on and improve on it. I would also tell you that I am worried about it. And my worries is the sustenance of these industries . Why does it worry me? The former governor of Cross River State, Dr Clement Isong who built 9 Industries within four years of his administration but none of those companies is producing today. They are moribund . I can count them for you . They are Quality Ceramics at my backyard, Peacock Paints , In my tenure , factories would be privatised . Other companies were Sunshine Batteries Ikot Ekpene , Qua Steel , International Biscuit factory etc. When AKwa Ibom state was created in 1987 , one of the Committed set up.was Asset Committee which was later changed to Committee for Reactivation of Ailing Industries in the state . We would privatised these companies to employ the teeming population of AKwa Ibom.
