NBS unemployment report on Akwa Ibom another proof of Udom’s incompetence —APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State on Saturday described as embarrassing and depressing the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report on the unemployment situation in the state.

The bureau had said in its second-quarter report released on Friday that 21,764,617 Nigerians are currently unemployed.

It added that Imo State topped the list of states with the highest rate of unemployment with 48.7 percent, followed by Akwa Ibom and Rivers with 45.2 percent and 43.7 percent respectively.

In a statement titled: “Another Damning Report on Akwa Ibom Unemployment Crisis,” and issued by its Publicity Secretary in the state, Nkereuwem Enyongekere, said the NBS report reminded the people of Akwa Ibom about the dire and miserable socio-economic status of the state.

The party also blamed the depressing and poor standards of living among the people of the state on mismanagement of resources, wrong priorities of the government and executive incompetence.

The statement read:

“Akwa Ibom people have just been reminded of their dire and miserable socio-economic status with a report from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics yesterday that their state has the second-highest unemployment rate in the country: a whopping 45.2 percent, translating to 1.14 million people.

READ ALSO: Akwa Ibom govt rejects NBS report on unemployment

“The state’s underemployed population, according to the same statistics, is about 551,000, while both the underemployment rate and unemployment rate is 66.9 percent.

“This is the most embarrassing and depressing economic data that has ever been recorded for our state in its 33–year history, and coming at a time when we are the highest earner of oil revenue, we are compelled to ask the state government to explain this paradox. We should note that unemployment is not our only scourge.

“Akwa Ibom has the second-highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the country and is sliding down the ladder in students’ performance in WAEC and other external examinations. When Mr. Udom Emmanuel took over as governor in 2015, we were the 12th position in WAEC performance. Last year, we fell to the 17th position. How can our state be recording this poor Human Development Index (HDI) when we are raking in so much income? Where is our money going?

“Our Party believes that the major causes of these depressing and poor standards of living among our people are the mismanagement of our resources, wrong priorities of the government and in many cases outright executive incompetence. Intertwined in all these is the matter of corruption.

“This administration has wrong priorities. The huge resources spent on erecting the 21-storey building which is even yet to be completed and the money being sunk into constructing the worship center have no direct bearing on the life and welfare of the people. A few years ago, the governor went ahead to build a new Governor’s lodge in Ikoyi, Lagos, at an astronomical cost despite widespread protests from the people against such wasteful projects. What are the motives for these white elephant monuments?

“We believe – and we have said this many times in the past – that these wasted resources would have been better used to create jobs through massive agribusiness value chains, rebuild, re-equip our schools, retrain our teachers and overhaul the curriculum. Most public schools in our state are overcrowded and dilapidated. They present the most unsuitable and unconducive learning environment for our children.”

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