The Akwa Ibom government has faulted the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) over the rate of unemployment among the youths in the state.
Charles Udoh, commissioner for information and strategy in a statement made available to the media described the figures as spurious and utterly confounding.
In the report by the NBS, it was stated that Akwa Ibom and another state have the nation’s highest unemployment rates.
According to Udoh, the report is nothing but a tissue of falsehood and a calculated attempt to mislead the public.
It stated that the NBS contradicted itself by saying that between third quarter of 2017 and third quarter of 2018, only Akwa Ibom and eight other states “recorded a reduction in their unemployment rates despite an increase in the national unemployment rates,” saying the finding contradicts the main conclusion of the NBS and renders the exercise questionable.and suspicious.
The statement stated in part that “Akwa Ibom State under the leadership of Governor Udom Emmanuel has tackled unemployment and under-employment with messianic zeal addition that the the central plank of his first term in office was the need to rapidly industrialize the State and create employment opportunities for the teeming youths.
“So far, this policy has been achieved leading to the establishment of 16 factories that have employed thousands of our youths.
“The Akwa Ibom Employment and Enterprise Scheme (AKEES), has ignited in our youths an entrepreneurial and ownership mind-set and this, has seen our youths applying their creative resources to create employment for themselves as part of our Dakkada philosophy.
“Because of the achievements recorded in the job and wealth creation agenda of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Administration, youth restiveness has been greatly reduced, leading to the peace and safety we now enjoy in our State, which is one of the main reasons why foreign investors are trooping to the State.”
It explained that the governor’s second term would expand the job creation agenda horizon and further provide more opportunities for our people to be gainfully employed and warned against cooking up unnecessary statistics to help certain narratives.
“Akwa Ibom is rising and will continue to be on the ascendance in the next four years of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s second term in office,” the statement stated.
