The relative peace and security obtainable in Akwa Ibom State today have combined to create a conducive environment that makes the state a safe place to visit, live, and do business. Simply because Governor Udom Emmanuel assumed office in 2015 fully aware of the factors that were critical to achieving the goal of transforming the state from civil service to an economic and industrial hub. Having identified insecurity as an obstacle to any meaningful development, he set out on the task of creating a safe and secure environment that would enable investments to flourish.
Before then, Akwa Ibom hadn’t been a particularly attractive place to be, despite brimming with enormous natural and human resources and the potential of being a destination for business, including tourism and hospitality for which it is famously known. Incessant cases of kidnapping, unresolved murder, robbery, and cultism combined to create an atmosphere that did not look quite appealing to potential investors, or even visitors.
The governor took the first major step of tackling insecurity by enacting a law banning cultism which was then fast becoming a phenomenon in the state, with almost daily reports of killings associated with cult activities. He granted amnesty to repentant cultists and got quite a number of them rehabilitated into society by being positively engaged.
A major crackdown on criminals and their activities no doubt saw a drastic reduction in the crime rate, which helped to create the enabling environment that has encouraged investments inflow to the state in the last six years. This is in addition to the various incentives put in place to enhance the ease of doing business in Akwa Ibom State.
The number of industrial establishments set up by the government as well as various investments by private sector players point to the fact that indeed, the state is safe and peaceful, relative to the situation in many other parts of the country today. The immediate benefits of this development are job creation, stability, and stability thus enhancing living standards and socio-economic sufficiency in many homes/families across the state.
Without a doubt, the atmosphere in Akwa Ibom State today has been jealously guarded and Ibomites are not ready to take it for granted, having seen the level of transformation that has taken place since the return of peace to the state.
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The recent inauguration of the government-backed Maintain Peace Movement (MPM), with Governor Emmanuel as the Chief Patron, is perhaps a way of ensuring the peaceful status quo is not derailed but sustained into the future, long after the present administration has ceased to exist. Indeed, Ibomites are one to be emulated for their doggedness and resilience. The launch of the movement was well embraced and in fact, appears to enjoy mass appeal across all segments of the society- a reflection of the peoples’ wishes and desire which is in tandem with the deliberate policy of the government at promoting peaceful co-existence across ethnic, dialectical and political divides – a policy that seems to have kept the state on the path of development in the recent past years.
The remarkable MPM is that it is designed to accommodate all shades of opinion. And the fact that it is a grassroots-driven project makes it obvious it would achieve the objective of getting the people of the state on the development train that is currently on top speed to a determined destination – an Akwa Ibom of which present and future generations would be proud.
Governor Emmanuel and indeed the good people of Akwa Ibom have worked tirelessly to achieve and maintain the level of peace that has enabled delivering substantially on the mandate to the people of the state. There is also a general consensus and agreement across the political, religious, and traditional institutions for the movement which has informed noticeable achievements in all sectors thus positively impacting the lives of people in the state.
It has so far been launched in more than six local government areas with plans to have the entire state covered by the program whilst cascading to every ward in the state.
Borrowing from the Dakkada philosophy concept which beckons on Ibomites to rise to greatness by exploiting their God-given potentials for individual and the collective development of the state, Governor Emmanuel has introduced the “Yak ika iso iso” (let’s continue to go forward) ideology on which the MPM is premised.
This is to further galvanize Ibomites to focus on the collective goal of sustainable peace for sustainably secured development for the present and future generations.
Beyond the socio-economic transformation that has taken place in Akwa Ibom, the MPM-driven peace initiative is a legacy for which the current government will be remembered for a long time to come.
