The Akwa Ibom Liberation Movement (AILM) says it will not accept the attempt to politicise the recent report published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In its latest report released on Monday, NBS said Akwa Ibom has the second highest unemployed people in the country.
At a press conference on Wednesday, said it is uncharitable to use the report as a yardstick for measuring the performance of current administration in the state.
The group said Udom Emmanuel, the governor, has created job opportunities through public private partnerships, business support schemes, agricentrepreusnhip programmes.
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He wondered how the agency arrived at its “highly contentious” conclusions on a state that has, for the past five years, been consistent in creating direct and indirect employment opportunities for its citizens.
According to the group’s scretary-general, Darlington Udobong, “Unemployment is a global phenomenon which got worst during the Covid-19 pandemic. This problem predates the current administration as such it is uncharitable to attempt to politicise such report, given the superlative track record Governor Udom Emmanuel has in rigorously pursuing policies that stimulate economic growth, provide job opportunities and create wealth for Akwa Ibom citizens”.
While acknowledging the importance of NBS and its routine reports, the group decried attempts by mischief makers to use such statistical data, which has severally been shown not to reflect the reality on ground, to engage in fruitless debates and arguments.
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“Going beyond unproductive debates on social media over NBS report, it is on record that since his emergence in 2015, Governor Udom Emmanuel has worked assiduously to put tangible projects that has greatly reduced unemployment in the state,” the group said.
“So far, more than 18 industries are operating or would soon begin operation in the state, including the Jubilee Syringe factory, King Size Flour Mill, Metering Solutions Company, Ibom Agricon Rice Mill, St. Gabriel Coconut factory, Ibom Airlines and others with capacity to employ thousands directly and create indirect job opportunities for thousands more. In addition, the Ibom Deep Seaport alone has capacity to employ well over 100, 000 citizens. All these are projects handled by the Udom Emmanuel administration to tackle unemployment. “
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