CIAPS Rating Of Governor Udom Is Misleading - Aniekan Umanah

The Akwa Ibom State Government has dismissed as false and misleading,  the performance rating of Governor Udom Emmanuel by  a  Lagos-based group, Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), which rated him among the lowly performed governors in October 2015.

In a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, said the purported comparative analysis of the governors’ performance in Nigeria, as reported in some newspapers and published online, was a spurious fabrication that insults the sensibilities of Akwa Ibom people, who are witnesses and beneficiaries of the good governance brought to bear by Emmanuel.

According to the commissioner, the governor was perhaps “the best performing governor in his set” and evidences abound to prove this contrary to the fabrication by CIAPS, noting that as reported, CIAPS simply targeted PDP governors.

Umanah said: “Even if one was to go by the CIAPS claimed criteria: payment of salaries, new projects, education, security and leadership by example, Emmanuel will score excellent in all”.  For the avoidance of doubt, the commissioner stated: “Akwa Ibom State Government has paid all its workers’ salaries to date, has the most robust project rollout as shown in the 100 days score card of the governor. The state is implementing the Free and Compulsory Education Programme and in October 2015 paid subventions to heads of Primary and Secondary Schools for the administration of school children.  Akwa Ibom is one of the safest states in the country and governor Udom Emmanuel has remained exemplary and focused in his pursuit of the wellbeing of the people.

He outlined some of the achievements of Emmanuel to include; ongoing construction and dualisation of about 140 km of roads with nine bridges across the state, the Ibom Deep Seaport development drive, the on-going construction of the second runway, massive electrification projects, the ground-breaking for the establishment of different industries; the construction and rehabilitation of blocks at the St. Luke’s Hospital, Anua; training of 1,000 youths in Oracle Database; emergency intervention in threatening erosions along Calabar-Itu Federal Highway and School of Nursing,  Anua; he said the governor has so far worked tirelessly to keep faith with the covenant he made, when he was sworn-in on May 29.

Other laudable achievements for which Mr. Umanah said Emmanuel deserves commendations are, the payment of the 10 years arrears pensions and gratuities to primary school teachers and local government employees; re-commissioning of Peacock Paints Industries.

Umanah maintained that in just over five months of his administration, the governor had spiced up the story of Akwa Ibom as over 50 foreign investors are currently discussing with the government on modalities for setting up businesses in the state.
He expressed the belief that if CIAPS had sent its members to visit the state for a firsthand feel of the situation on ground, they would not have released their faulty findings.

The commissioner advised CIAPS not to engage in armchair concoctions to  mislead unsuspecting members of the public, but should rather conduct proper findings so as to provide unbiased reports to the generality of the people.

He urged members of the public to discountenance the reports and be wary of politically motivated reports, so as not to fall victims of the antics of agents of disaffection.