NASIRU EL' RUFAI: AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN

By Osondu Ahirika

Kaduna State, Nigeria's hotbed of religious riots, extremism and fundamentalism is boiling after 8 years of absolute amity under former Governor Ahmed Markarafi. A succession of Governors beginning with his successor former Vice President Namadi Sambo, who was succeeded by Patrick Yakowa, who died in office to pave way for Mukthar Yero collectively, bequeathed relative stability to the State. 
All that is spinning on a reverse under the current Governor, Mallam Nasiru El'Rufai. After starting on a bright note by restoring Local Government autonomy and repealing joint accounts with the state, Rufai has since headed the wrong way. Under his watch, the Nigerian Army massacred over 1000 shite muslims(Rufai is Sunni Muslim) and he did not raise a voice against it.
Apparently riding on the alleged impunity with which the Shites conducted themselves in Kaduna State with their detained leader Sheik Ibrahim Yaqoub El Zakzaky as a caliph, Rufai moved to clampdown on religious freedom in the state. But history and empirical analysis of his proposed edict reveals that, the ultimate target is to undermine the practice of the christian faith in the State. The bill which seeks to regulate evangelism and licence preachers before they can preach in the State is being resisted by the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, while the Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, is maintaining studied silence. Of course, CAN and PFN know that the Bill in the works, proposing to ban crusades and outdoor preaching, or use of public address systems, licence churches or preachers before they can operate, is targeted at them.

 Kaduna has a long dozzier of religious violence. Maitatsine riots in 1983; the riots after the Kafanchan incidence of 1987, the 2000 riots against the introduction of Sharia, and the 2002 riots among others like Zangon Kataf which also had religious undertones. Methink, the wise way forward is for Rufai to steer clear of stirring religious disaffection under any guise. But his well known obstinacy, defiance and pride, will nudge him on, to ignore overwhelming public opinion, that he rescind his commitment to having the bill passed.
Rufai's popularity rating has gone so low that, Nigerians were celebrating the trending news alleging that, his deputy governor, Architect Bala Bantex slapped him. Some have dubbed it, 'The slap of God, even when Bantex has come out to describe it as 'totally untrue.' In a press statement issued on Sunday, March 28, the Deputy Governor denied ever doing any such thing. In part the statement reads: 
“We should reject shrill cries that often betray prejudice and be firm that we must be guided by logic and history. For all that Kaduna State has suffered from religious violence, the many lives lost and the divided neighborhoods that have sprung up as a result, it seems that some people have forgotten.” If you ask me, although he denied any face-off with his boss, and reaffirmed the vitality and strength of their relationship, Bantex, in those lines afforestated, has made the point for who has ears to hear, including his boss, the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the people of all faiths in the state. Guided as he pleads, by 'history and logic', Rufai should let sleeping dogs lie. This outrageous bill contravenes the constitutionally guaranteed rights of all citizens to practice their faith without molestation.

Meanwhile, a popular prophet, Dr Chris Okafor has asked him to withdraw the bill or face the wrath of God. Okafor, known for his predictions in the country, said the governor had an ultimatum to revert the bill and failure to do same may yet fetch him serious consequences. Another fiery Christian leader, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, The Senior Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM), has passed a decree of death on the Kaduna state Governor if he fails to revoke the anti preaching bill.
Preaching in his church on March 27th, Suleiman said,"I am not just running my mouth. In the 1999 constitution, Chapter 4, under the fundamental human rights, section 38 says that everyone has a freedom of thought, conscience and opinion and it says they are very free to exercise their religion either in a community, in public or or in private. Public means put your speakers anywhere. So the man is not just going against the scripture. He is going against the nation. He is going against the constitution and he says because he did it in Abuja, nothing happened. He entered a christian community in Kaduna and he says he will destroy life. He will die!"he said.

Interestingly he described El Rufai as, "The Herod of Kaduna." Herod you will remember, gave an edict that all new born babes be put to the sword so he may have the new born king and baby Jesus killed. He also had John the baptist, jailed and put to death for preaching against his takeover of his brothers wife. In my view, Herod is an understating of Rufai's activity. This act of his is not unprecedented.
In scriptures, we had in Acts 5:28, where Peter and the other Apostles were paraded before the authourities, the query was, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
(See Acts 5:28). To that edict,( Acts 5:29) - Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!"
In countries like Myanmar, Burma, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Laos, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Maldives, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, among others, Governments have enacted decrees to outlaw and criminalize profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Every effort and force is applied to legislate christian religious knowledge out of the school curriculum in so many nation states. Billions are spent to distort the story off his birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection through itinerant literature and sponsored movies. The question the world has failed to ask or answer is: why so much fear of the gospel of Jesus christ? Why is so much might poured into the fight to keep Jesus out of the hearts of men and shut their mouth. The bitter truth they have to swallow is, even when reggae eventually gets stopped, nobody can stop the Goodnews of love, Peace, righteousness, social justice, equity, fairness and salvation as espoused by Jesus Christ. 
El' Rufai must be told in clear unmistaken terms, that his bill is dead on arrival. The Church will reserve for him the same answer Peter gave the Council which reverberates through all ages against very dangerous odds. He has led a provocative history of controversies since he happened in Public office. With a vociferous appetite for bravado and muscle flexing, he has earned the sobriquet, Mr Bulldozer for his demolition of structures in Abuja as the FCT Minister, and Hell Rufai for his radicalism and attacks on Presidents Yar'adua and Goodluck Jonathan. But this is a different ball game and I concur with Apostle Suleiman that, it is time to test power.

The irony is, Rufai is an accident waiting to happen to Kaduna State in particular and Nigeria in general. Reminds me of the fact that he wrote a memoir titled, The Accidental Public Servant. A story of Nigeria, and its power game as told by him. In it, Nasir El-Rufai admits he rose to the top ranks of Nigeria's political
hierarchy by accident, serving first as the privatization czar at the Bureau for
Public Enterprises and then as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja under former President Olesegun Obasanjo. 
Reflecting on how to save Nigeria from destruction in that book, its shocking that El Rufai is now activating a time bom that could actually spell doom for the beleaguered nation. I join the college of those warning him to beware, lest he crashes out of Nigeria's power organogram by Accident just the way he came in. I also urge President Muhammadu Buhari to wade in and protect the Constitution of the Federal Republic from the breach El Raufai is stoking with his experimental bill. Keeping quiet is complicity and bodes evil or nigeria.

AKSG NEW MODEL FOR PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION , A NARRATIVE OF TRANSPARENCY

By Emmanuel Nicholas 
For Akwa Ibom State to take its rightful place and be more relevant in today's world, it requires bold, inspiring and visionary leadership, devoid of corruption and cronyism, and Governor Udom Emmanuel is an epitome of such leadership. Governor Udom Emmanuel represents honesty and trustworthiness. He is scrupulous, conscientious, high-principled, selfless, content, anti-corruption, upright, upstanding, high-minded, right-minded, good, virtuous, just, noble, respectable, decent and all above prudent. With Governor Udom, Akwa Ibom people have elected a leader who is not corrupt, and who places the people over his personal needs. In this world, to be competitive in all aspects, it demands radical socio-economic transformation and the Akwa Ibom Governor has vast knowledge in financial matters will usher in the economic change. 

Governor Udom with Wife

Udom is a leader that has good vision for the state. He has set standards for honesty and with him, mismanagement of the state's resources, cronyism and recklessness in governance will be grossly minimised if not eradicated. In leadership, your acolytes greatly influence your output. The people you work with should share same philosophy with you and be poised to interpret your vision statements into realities. Hon Ephraim Akparawa Inyang-eyen is one of the Governor’s team members whose philosophy synchronises with that of his boss. He is confident, assertive, innovative and committed to promoting and defending the interest of the Udom Emmanuel Government and that of the people. 
Hon Ephraim Inyang considers that the people's interest and development must be placed above our politics. Above all, he is prepared to seek solutions from within, and adopt the philosophies and practices that will deal with the various challenges that the State faces, and develop ideas to propel our State towards the best that it deserves for the better. Hon Inyang-Eyen operates an open policy that has integrity in its actions and is really good at managing its information. These are the foundations upon which government accountability is built and corruption is reduced. 

Mr Ephraim Inyang with A Foreign Contractor

To be clear, integrity in Ephraim’s context means that an open government follows the rule of law and that it works to establish a culture of integrity amongst its representatives and employees. This integrity pervades all aspects of an open government which reduces corruption and creates internal accountability, where government holds itself accountable. The last have not been heard about the payment of compensation to properties owners as the State takes on road construction projects. Across the country, the process of payment of compensation to property owners is usually marred with a lot of inconsistencies. Most times, some persons will collaborate with political office holders to induce the private valuer to inflate the price sum of each of the property valued. During payment to the beneficiaries, cheque are issued to owners without them having the privilege to see the actual sum that is accruable to each of them as the voucher always turns upside down and only the section of beneficiary signatures will be the only part that will be exposed to the beneficiary. Most times, the compensations are received by impostors and when true owners turn up, it will be discovered that his or her benefits has been collected by someone else. This will make the government sometimes pay more than one beneficiary for one property. When some property owners whose benefits are collected by impostors cannot get their Payment, it leads to an endless cycle of litigation as it prevent government and contractors from taking their right of way , hence delaying government projects from taking off . The metric of transparency in the payment of compensation has been changed, as Governor Udom Emmanuel has invoked new methodology in the process and procedure of payment. First a private valuer will value the property. Thereafter, the government valuer also goes in to value the properties and then submits their values before the government. Both teams will compare the submission and reach a compromise of the sums for each property. After both team’s assessment , a private finance consultant is engaged to effect the payment to eliminate all forms of malpractice by any official. Before each beneficiary is paid, he or she will present an Identity Card and there must a witness from the community to identify that truly she or he is the owner of the properties in front of the cameras.The beneficiary will also present original copies of the property documents, with two copies of passport photographs In the case of a family property, a "will" will, be presented to the consultant. In the absence of the will, the family will collectively sign the power of attorney, granting the name of one of them to be written on the cheque to avoid future opposition and litigation. After these processes, the cheque will be issued to the beneficiary and in 24 hours after paying in the cheque, government will release funds into their individual accounts. After receiving the compensation, the government will take its right of way for contractors to commence work on the project. 
On Monday 12 October , the Akwa Ibom State Government commenced the payment of compensation on the affected property in the ongoing urbanization of Eket Town , followed by payment of compensation to Tropicana unground water channelization, Ikot Udom Road Project in Ibiono Local Government , Awa Iman and Mkpok villages in Onna LGA Flagging off the programme, the Commissioner for Works,Mr Ephraim Inyang-Enyen informed the beneficiary that government of Deacon Udom Emmanuel will not condone with any act of fraudulence and has determined to keep to his promise of completion of all projects within a stipulated time frame. He said government decision to institute a new direction for payment was to guide against act capable of truncating the whole deal, "a situation where someone own a property and another man, get compensation will not be exercised again. We are effecting this payment so that the contract for the Remodelling project can be expedite by the contractors”. He said government had allowed owners of property in the affected area to hire their valuer but take charge of consultant who carry out the payment. This, according to the Commissioner was to ensure probity and accountability in the system. " every owner of property must show up with a witness, it could be a lawyer, valuer who must sign the cheque before payment is done. " 
He said the development will help eliminate the bottleneck associated with compensation. Hon Ephraim assured that Udom Emmanuel’s administration was committed to providing quality and meaningful projects to the people of the State. He called on the people to cooperate with government to enable him succeed, saying the mandate freely given him by the people was to deliver dividends of democracy to the people and not to give excuse. He said, for easy identification and payment, the ministry chose to drove down to the villages involved and ensure that affected property owners are identify in order to avoid double standard and omission. He said, payment of compensation to the affected owners will be carried out in two parts, which according to him is, through cheque and cash,
 "Those who have structures will receive cheque while those with tombstone and other economic trees will receive instant cash so as to ease the exercise”. Mr Ephraim Inyang has pleaded with the community leaders and other major stakeholders to cooperate with the ministry to carry out the exercise effectively. He asked everyone affected to present their identity card and two recent passport photograph for easy identification and payment. 
Despite the amount, the Commissioner also demand property owners to appear with witness and signed alongside. He said it was barbaric and fraudulence for people to claim other people's property, warning the community to desist from such. In one of those occasions, the Chairman, Ibiaku Ikot Oku village Council, Mr. Nkereuwem Daniel Robert commended the state government for coming to the aid of Ikot Udom and other communities that share the road, he said the people of the area has been under bandage due to inaccessible road network. He particularly commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for remembering the people of the area in his development agenda. 
The village head of Mkpok, Eteidung Ekerete Thompson Ufot lauded Governor Udom Emmanuel's development plan for the area and pledged the people's support for the government. It would be recalled that payments of compensation have earlier been effected in Eket, Uyo and Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area. 
The Commissioner stated that to ensure transparency in the on going payment of compensation, the government has employed the service of a finance consultant different from the Estate Valuer who valued the properties to handle the payment. He said the arrangement allows the estate valuer, the construction company, the finance consultant & government to witness every payment & is properly documented. For every leadership to have positive effect on the people, there must be integration of best practices to outplay the mistakes of the past. 
The synergy of Governor Udom Emmanuel and his Commissioner of Works is to synchronise qualitative and transparent leadership to sustain higher development strides in Akwa Ibom State , devoid of corruption but laden with transparency in the entire process of project execution and implementation

Press Release: Senator Akpabio Does Not Own Lagos Lekki Gardens

Senator Godswill Akpabio

Press Release:
Senator Akpabio does not own Lagos Lekki Gardens

The attention of the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been drawn to a malicious twitter “flash” by Sahara Reporters which claimed that the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State “has been linked to the ownership of Lagos Lekki Gardens where 31 died in a collapsed bld.”

We want to state categorically that Senator Akpabio is not the owner of Lagos Lekki Gardens nor has he any form of relationship whatsoever with the said company.
While we condole with the families of those who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate building collapse, we are saddened that Sahara Reporters could chose to play politics with such a tragic incident as the death of Nigerians and chose to drag in the name of Senator Akpabio.
This mischief is happening at a time the owners of Lagos Lekki Gardens have been arraigned before a competent court of law for all Nigerians to see.
It is not beyond the investigative capabilities of Sahara Reporters to find out from the authorities of the Lagos State Government and the Corporate Affairs Commission if they still doubt the ownership of the Lagos Lekki Gardens that one petitioner against Senator Akpabio claims controls 27 estates within Lagos. We condemn this politically-motivated speculation linking Senator Akpabio to the ownership of Lagos Lekki Gardens.
This is one in a series of falsehood that Sahara Reporters has fabricated against the Senate Minority Leader. Recall the national uproar which followed a similar concoction on December 10, 2015 when Sahara Reporters “authoritatively confirmed” that Senator Akpabio had been sacked from the Senate by an Appeal Court which had not even delivered its judgment at the time of the publication. It turned out to be a hoax when the election of the Senator was upheld the following day by the Appeal Court.
We condemn this attempt by Sahara Reporters to tarnish the image of a public officer and demand an unreserved apology for this false and malicious publication. We advice the promoters of Sahara Reporters to jettison mischief, falsehood and fabrication and uphold the fine journalism tradition of objectivity, truth and fairness.
Anietie Ekong
Special Assistant on Media to the
Senate Minority Leader

Akwa Ibom Rerun Elections: APC Saw the Future

APC See The Future

 The rerun elections to fill seats in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly have come and gone; with the PDP, as usual, pummeling their raucous opponents - APC, and other parties; recording victory by a broad margin. On monitoring programmes of the parties in the lead up to the polls, the body language of APC suggested they had foreseen the heavy defeat.

While PDP were busy organizing mega rallies, consulting far and wide, and their candidates working hard to garner popularity amongst the electorates – not taking for granted favour they already enjoyed in their respective constituencies – APC were only found behind worthless and commonly spurious articles on print and social media. Still their efforts at such publicity was as weak as can be. For example, an attempt to make noise about Umana Umana’s return to the state, as if that would serve as a boost, was immediately dealt with by a public who have by now refused to burden their ears and eyes with APC messages.

The APC are far better at the publicity tool of propaganda than at winning elections; their history of election failure in Akwa Ibom seems to indicate. In the last Governorship elections and in the rerun that just held, Akwa Ibom gave at least 90% of their votes to PDP, while the APC took several bouts of stern rebuke from leading individuals in the society for an imposing volume of calumny that came from them. While such capabilities worked for them at the last presidential elections, it failed and still fails them in Akwa Ibom. Right now, they constitute a good example for the belief that one can be popular and never successful. This time again, the APC seemed to focus on their strongest capability, leaving the PDP to claim easy won victory.

As could be observed before polls, not one billboard carried an APC message. It made one wonder if truly they had run out of money or maybe they had run out of confidence. Or maybe they had imagined to rig the elections but did not sense an enabling environment or backing from their national leadership.

The assumption of sensing no backing from their national headship could be the first accurate explanation for APC’s cold feet. Architect Otu Ita Toyo, one of their most influential leaders in the state, wrote a lamentation on the eve of the elections; and their primary media arm, APC news alert reposted it in a mutinous non-oral protest;

“We have all been through a lot..... it is known that from the National Assembly to the anti corruption fight the APC is yet to give a coordinated response nationally. Truth be told, we have to overhaul of (corrected to ‘or’) risk giving second wind to the PDP who believe that the end justifies the means.”
And then he accused Umana Okon Umana, for whom many of them forfeited their nobility, respect and dignity to support in the 2015 elections, of bandoning other party objective having failed at his’;
“Without UOU there was scant energy in the APC. UOU is at this time engaged in another level of struggle and there is a limit to what one man with no external support can do.”
He then attempted to make a case against what has become fashionable impulse among rank and file of the party; rebelling against their leadership, trying to whip up some more patience with the party structure.
“We have not felt the essential mobilization from the party leaders and exco... saving a few like the Itas... I have no doubt that we can and should recover but only if we get deadwoods out of the way. I am persuaded that the Exco will do the right thing to save the party in the state”.
APC members are also Nigerians, and it is common knowledge that a true blooded Nigerian cannot successfully be retained in deception, especially those from the Middle Belt and Southward. This is why most Nigerians can foresee mass defection from the APC in the nearest future. Arch Toyo also agreed with this mindset here:
“Finally I hear that 4 years is a long time to stay irrelevant. Well it's not just 4 years, for some people 17 and counting. They deserve a break. But we won't get that break by matching violence or rebelling against our platform. This is the moment for clear headed patriotism like Patty is advocating. Only we must advocate for engagement, tools and organised party organ. We must keep the last of our optimism. The grass on the other side is not greener for men of ideas. I know. I have been there.”

Suffice it to say that the fate of APC has been sealed, beginning with Akwa Ibom State. So dire it is that a common joke among people who witnessed the free and fair rerun elections both physically and following online, was about possible news headlines of APC backed newspapers by the following Monday. Everyone anticipated another grumble from them, implying that they can no longer be taken as seriously as before.

But why are things so awful for APC? Nothing far from their assumption that they could dupe clear-eyed Nigerians into supporting them, with ballyhoo defamation against everything that made sense. They attacked our sense of good judgment, for we gave them some attention – claiming to have some kind of ‘inside’ knowledge, they made themselves popular enough to rig the 2015 elections and get away with it. It was their worst mistake, for now they have the federal government and, 10 months into their administration, they are still toying with sensitive fibres of the nation’s health, governing the World’s biggest black nation and largest African economy with trial and error.

Their sins have begun to hunt them. In Akwa Ibom, where they never succeeded to win favour in the first place, being an APC supporter has become a thing of embarrassment, no thanks to a people-first philosophy of governance by successive PDP governments. A wide disparity between the performance of the Udom Emmanuel led administration - with severe paucity of funds - and that of President Muhammadu Buhari is a major contributor to their election woes and imminent collapse.

Meanwhile, the APC only went home with 10.9% of the total votes cast in the just concluded rerun elections in Akwa Ibom. That figure is certainly an ultra-generous gift from the Akwa Ibom people, as the they, APC did not even approach the elections expecting that much.

PDP CONFIRM DOMINANCE OVER APC & OTHERS WITH WIDE MARGIN RERUN ELECTION VICTORY

Akwa Ibom people, in last Saturdays rerun elections for House of Assembly seats confirmed beyond doubt their loyalty to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, by giving over 90% of votes to return the candidates of the PDP to the hallowed chambers.

This figure which came from the re-run in Ikot Ekpene/Obot Akara, Etinan, Ibesikpo Asutan, Oron/Udung Uko and state constituency saw PDP sweeping a total of 52790 votes against APC’s 6461.

This figure follows the same trend witnessed in the last governorship elections where PDP polled 91% of total votes cast.

It appears the APC had foreseen the defeat and had failed to campaign in the affected constituencies.

The APC candidates who failed to put up a single poster and billboard in these constituencies, thereby confirming the assumption that Akwa Ibom is almost entirely PDP.

In Ikot Ekpene/Obot Akara, Prince Idongesit Ntekpere emerged winner as PDP scored 23,900 making up 90.51% of votes cast; APC scored 2428(9%), Accord 23(0.1%) and Labour party had 53(0.2%). In Etinan, Barrister Aniefiok Dennis got 85.68% of votes with PDP scoring 10,977; APC scored 1780(13.9%), Accord 26(0.2%) and Labour had 29 votes (0.23%). In Oron/Udung Uko, the day belonged to Honourable Effiong Bassey Okon of PDP, who scored 7,625 giving him 96% of total votes cast; the APC had 298(3.76%), Accord party 5(0.06%) and Labour party scored 8 votes (0.1%).

Former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Honourable Aniekan Uko of the PDP, who had been removed in February by a Court of Appeal judgment that favoured his petitioning APC opponent, received massive support from his people who gave him 83.8% of votes cast, scoring 10,288 as against a paltry 1955 (15.93%) for his APC rival, Gabriel Akpan. The Accord party scored 13(0.11%) and Labour Party had 19(0.15%).

The four successful PDP candidates will resume their parliamentarian duties after being sworn back into office at a date yet to be announced.

THE FALL AND FALL OF APC IN AKWA IBOM: MAJOR CANDIDATE WITHDRAWS 24 HOURS TO ELECTIONS RERUN

Hopes dashed by the Supreme Court ruling of February 3^rd; their chief benefactor, Mr Umana Umana reportedly denied compensating appointment at the Federal level; high ranking members defecting to the PDP - it has not been the best of times for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akwa Ibom State. To worsen their dilemma, Mr. Victor Ini Okon of Oron Federal Constituency, perhaps their most influential candidate in the approaching Elections rerun, has today announced his withdrawal from the race – less than 24 hours to the polls.

Mr. Victor, who is a much loved past chairman of Oron Local Government Area, made the announcement in a Press Conference held in Uyo, 4pm on Friday citing “very personal reasons” as grounds for his decision.

And not only has he withdrawn from the elections, he has also resigned from the party.

“After due consultation with my family, and immediate constituency, I have decided to withdraw from the re-run election fixed for tomorrow March 12^th, 2016 for very personal reasons. I have also already resigned from the All Peoples Congress (APC).”

It will be recalled that Hon Okon had ran for a seat in the House of Representatives on the platform of APC in the April 11, 2015 elections, and lost to the incumbent Hon Effion Okon Bassey. He then contested his defeat at the Elections tribunal, securing a favourable verdict at the Appeal Court which called for a rerun.

The elections will hold as scheduled, but the APC cannot field a replacement candidate this close to the elections, resulting in a huge loss – an enormous one given the recently much debated significance of the area to the party’s highest leadership. Meanwhile, it has been revealed to our correspondent that Mr. Victor Okon has chosen to turn off his phones to ward off incessant calls from frantic members of the APC’s leadership in the State.

Governor Udom & the Akwa Ibom Civil Servant: What The Common Man Should Know

By Uduak Umo

For some months, one nagging challenge for the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel has been with the organized labour. There have been tensions between both parties with state government policies and actions drawing reactions from the labour as the later struggles to acclimatize under the unusual. In the milieu that has formed, the public has been led to believe an unhealthy mix of facts and untruths. This mix has now gone through filtration and the facts have crystallized out.

The Majority of Akwa Ibom based labour supply has been Public Servants since state creation, explaining the common impression of a Civil Service State. Although there has been a robust population of petty self-employed labour, the fresh college leaver would give you his definition of employment: get a permanent job - in the civil service.

The Civil Service is like a religion in Akwa Ibom. Only Christianity commands more devotion.

When fiscal policies are made in high places, it is Civil servants who bring home the effects of the resultant economic changes. Other than being a Governor, it seems the next safest job in Akwa Ibom is being a ‘Worker’; being a civil servant. There has even been reports of politicians who retained their employment status as ‘Workers’ long after they had won an election; not mentioning those who failed and went back to ‘Work’.

When Civil Servants Are Provoked

It is even believed that if Akwa Ibom workers perceive you to be cheating on them, as a senior government official, they would attend the next event you are invited to en masse – especially if the venue is Ibom Hall, what could be regarded as a theatre of state events – and they would boo you deafeningly. Two people they did this to lost their lives mysteriously shortly afterwards. In fact, Mr. Umana Umana, a past governorship aspirant whom the Workers had accused of severely short-changing them as SSG, has reportedly refused to attend any event at Ibom Hall since he fell out with them till date, unwilling to dare the risk of facing these unarmed mercenaries of ‘divine’ judgment.

Such is the power of Civil Service in Akwa Ibom, and that tells you what to expect if civil servants challenge the government. Other Nigerians may believe this to be nothing different from their states, but I dare say that, in Akwa Ibom, it goes a little deeper.

A key stakeholder for any government, there has been no administration, since the old Cross River State that has not recorded an experience with the civil servants. However, other than the Umana situation, the Akpabio administration did enjoy a flowery relationship with the Workers; climaxing each year with what they fondly called ‘Akpabio-mber’ - a 13^th month salary bonus they collected to them every December. Although the administration of Mr. Udom Emmanuel famously hit the ground running with Economy-focused governance, his government has already tasted a bit of tension with the Workers.

How The Udom Administration Has Fared

Firstly, the Governor has brought back a long quiescent culture of paying taxes. He has insisted that Akwa Ibom must go back to the mores of accountability and strict legal obligation of citizens to the State – a constitutional demand that had been suspended as we basked in what seemed like ever increasing oil based wealth and federal allocation. This was not familiar to us, and the first to react were our civil servants.

A simple tax scheme had been approved for implementation nationwide some years back, and the administration of Governor Udom had come to implement it having taken time to discuss with and sensitize the affected Akwa Ibom people of the changes to expect. He approved of a 50% rebate on the tax increase that followed; but the Workers cried out with some of them even misunderstanding figures and insinuating that state government was taking 50% off their salaries as tax. Not until the Governor met with the state Labour Union, and several messages went out over the media to correct the ensuing insinuations and propaganda, was the tension mitigated. And then as some of the rumour mongers received their remuneration, the situation died a natural death.

On this, the Workers had exhibited insensitivity and lack of discretion to a great extent. One, taxation is as old a concept as civilization, from ancient times. Any educated person knows taxation to be a responsibility of every citizen in every nation, unless where the constitution exempts. Workers are supposed to be a body of non-partisan professionals who deliver essential services to the public. They outlast political administrations and should be the first to understand the most straightforward policies of government. Secondly, the said tax structure is being implemented on all government paid personnel including political appointees. For the politicians, there is no rebate – they pay the complete levy, deducted at source. It must be that the understanding NLC showed following the meeting with the governor resulted from his presenting these facts before them.

But then as months rolled by, some workers who had most recently been recruited began to cry out that they were not receiving their pay. By November 2015, most of them had worked for a year without pay. And you can imagine the outcry. Where anger over unpaid salaries did not get, the administration’s renewed taxation policy did, with issues like non-payment of arrears, debts owed to local government staff etc. bringing up the rear. Political hyenas have cashed in on the situation, battering it further with rounds after rounds of propaganda, the most up to date being rumours of a labour strike threat.

Negotiation has always worked wonders where tension threatens and unfortunately for people who were getting excited at the prospect of an NLC strike, the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel does believe in the age old key of dialogue. As the rumoured strike loomed around the end of February, labour leaders and government officials sat down again to dialogue. The Head of Service, Dr. Mrs. Ekereobong Akpan chaired the meeting that also had in attendance the Commissioner for Education, Mr Aniekan Akpan; Special Adviser to the Governor on Labour, Productivity and Manpower Planning, Honourable Ekpenyong Enyinna and NLC executives.

According to an attendee, this time, the unionists unfurled a list of all issues affecting the civil servants, which included promotion of teachers without arrears, non-payment of outstanding gratuities to retirees, arrears of salaries to local government employees, and other demands. They practically brought the length and breadth of Workers’ problems to the table – to which the Government delegation had simple, enlightening and heartwarming responses. At the end of the meeting, the NLC vice chairman exclaimed in satisfaction; “probably if we were this informed, some of these issues wouldn’t have come up at all”. Apparently, the facts and the accurate state of things have become clear to the representatives of workers. These facts are what Honourable Enyinna passed across as he gave an unhurried explanation to select members of the online media in his office on Thursday 3^rd March.

Now, yes, some workers had enjoyed promotion without receiving the commensurate wage increase because, he said, they were due for promotion in a time when the state and entire nation are struggling with financial crises;

“Planning 4 to 6 years ago was based on what we used to receive. But now, we’re not even receiving up to a quarter of that. We used to receive this amount, and we don’t have it for now to pay arrears; must that stop you from being promoted? There is what is called notional promotion; where you are promoted but not with the corresponding arrears. But, you see, the government can even sit down when things improve, and say, workers take this – what you never expected”.

Akwa Ibom Civil Servants, Paid As At When Due

‘People who still claim on social media that Civil Servants in Akwa Ibom are not being paid are either outdated or mischievous’; this would be the conclusion of anyone who listens to a replay of Mr. Enyinna’s assertion as he spoke in this interview.

No civil servant in Akwa Ibom can rise up and say, ‘look, I have not been paid’”. He said, adding that;

 “Some states are owing up to 6, 7, 8 months. In some, they are laying off workers. But in Akwa Ibom State, are we owing? No we’re not. We’re paying civil servants as at when due.”

It will be recalled, as earlier mentioned above, that when the governor decided to implement the new tax scheme (which had been in implementation by the federal government and in other states), he also offered to ease the pressure that the change would bring by half. The SA, who did not fail to make reference to this humane gesture, stated;

“This is the same governor that gave a rebate of 50% on taxes for workers. Is it constitutional? No. It only takes conscience to say, let me do this so that workers will be happy.  Any person that has good conscience will definitely do things that will boost the morale of the workers. There are workers that will tell you, ‘look, I am happy, God will bless you’”.

Honourable Enyinna also took time to give details about the unpopular saga of unpaid salaries to those recruited since 2014. From earlier explanations by the Governor and other government officers, it could be understood that the state government had to withhold these salaries so that the right money does not get into the wrong hands. Government has been taking the time to get the right things done. Yet, the SA has given even more insight into the situation;

“I was the secretary of the committee of verification to look at some of the new recruits that came in. A whole of things were discovered.  There was this employment racketeering. People had come up with petitions that they had paid ‘X’ amount for employment letters to be issued them. The SSS are aware of this; people were called for questioning – ‘where did you get this...?’

Civil servants should thank His Excellency; he is a man with compassion. There are some civil servants that would have been behind bars. But His Excellency took it mild, choosing to correct the anomalies and plug the loopholes. And these things take a process; it can’t be a snap of the fingers.

Those that have been cleared among the new recruits have been paid their salaries. For those that have not been paid, there is another committee that is verifying the authenticity of their credentials. The committees are working; they’ve reached out to the University of Uyo, the University of Nigeria and other universities.”

Where Is Akwa Ibom Heading?

There have been a lot of assurances and reassurances on the near future of Akwa Ibom. There might be trying times in the nation right now, but fortunately for our people, the right man is at the helm of affairs in Akwa Ibom. By now, Nigerians, notwithstanding their political and ethnic persuasions, know that it takes a trustworthy leader to attract foreign fiscal participation into the polity. While the federal Government is finding it herculean achieving this, Akwa Ibom State has been buzzing with foreign investors since Udom became Governor. It is a strong ray of hope and Mr. Enyinna once again puts it better here;

“Do you think just anybody can wake up and tell a person ‘bring your money and come and invest here’? You choose the bank that you put your money. The people that are coming into this state to invest are here because of Udom Emmanuel.

Since Before the Supreme Court judgment, we had about 17 investors. They are all here because they have confidence in him. If we know what the governor is trying to do, we will sit back and watch him in admiration.”

From the relationship between the State Government and the Labour in Akwa Ibom, one thing is safe to expect from the administration of Udom Emmanuel, and that is transparency. The various component stakeholders of the Government can testify to this. There is ease of access to Government offices enjoyed by the media, independent researchers and PR specialists in Akwa Ibom as further proof of this. While this has helped many see the broad disparity between claims by practitioners of yellow journalism and the accurate state of things, for those of us who early enough could separate the credible from the mischievous in the media ecosystem – we have no problem unmasking falsehood – such transparency helps us see the future of Akwa Ibom as told by the Udom Emmanuel leadership; a future of Akwa Ibom as no longer predominated by Civil Service employment, but a huge geographical nucleus of industries.

 Uduak Umo is a Lagos/Uyo based PR Strategist & Public Affairs analyst,