MBOHO MKPARAWA IBIBIO PRESS RELEASE

Added by Akan Nkweini on November 21, 2017.
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MBOHO MKPARAWA IBIBIO PRESS RELEASE

Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, a foremost socio-cultural organization of Ibibio Nation, the fourth largest tribe in Nigeria has her headquarters in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State with 58 chapters in all parts of Nigeria and in countries of Africa, Europe and North America. The leadership of the Mboho, rising from the November 2017 Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting presided over by the 9th International President, Akparawa (Elder) Monday Jimmy Etokakpan raised and discussed the under listed issues:

  1. The Mboho expressed her gratitude to the State Government for the strong partnership she has demonstrated in supporting the Mboho education projects such as donation of perimeter fencing to secure the land of the Mboho Unity School, material support and representation during the recent Mboho’s 30th Anniversary celebrations and the release of a certificate of occupancy covering the premises of the Udo Udoma House International Headquarters of the Mboho, etc.
  2. The Mboho commended the State Government for prioritizing prompt payment of salaries to her workers which have helped in ameliorating the suffering of the people and improving the living standards engendered by the prevailing economic recession. The Mboho noted that civil servants in the State are better off given the experience and statistics of their counterparts in other States of the Federation where unpaid salary arrears run into as many as 7 to 15 months.
  3. The Mboho noted and called on the State Government not to relent in the demand for compliance in relocating the administrative headquarters of Exxon Mobil in Nigeria to Akwa Ibom State as directed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo during his duty tour of the State in March 2017. The Mboho noted that 10 months on, there has been no visible moves whatsoever from the International Oil Company at complying.
  4. The Mboho noted with grave concern and demanded for explanation from the Federal authorities through the State government on the following; there have been stability and dual gains both in crude oil prices from around 38 dollars per barrel in the first quarter to the current 62 dollars per barrel on the one hand and the ramped up crude production volumes from around 1.3 million barrels per day to some 2.3million barrels per day. However these have failed to translate into higher revenue accruals into the Federation account being shared to the federating units. We maintain that this lack of correlation in earned and shared revenue is responsible for the continued crushing poverty in the land and sub-human living conditions of our people. And the Mboho strongly objects to this.
  5. The Mboho noted that the Federal Government of Nigeria should keep faith with, and ensure the sincere implementation of the 16-point demand presented to President Buhari by the Pan Niger-Delta Forum (PANDEF) and adopted by the Federal government in order to sustain the peace prevailing in the region, and to also keep on course the modest economic recovery being bandied by the government. The Mboho noted that till date the Federal Government of Nigeria has not kept their side of the deal and have only been paying lip service regarding all the agreements in the 16-point document.
  6. The Mboho noted that there is a compelling need for the State Government and the leadership of the interventionist agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC to find a common ground to work together in the critical issues of development of transportation, educational, health, water, energy and general infrastructures as well as wealth creation and employment generation in Akwa Ibom State which is indisputably the largest producer of crude oil in the country. The Mboho notes that the urgency in this is that the present NDDC leadership has already served one year of the residual tenure for Akwa Ibom State with a logical likelihood that the State will have to wait for her turn again to mount the saddle in the apex leadership of this 9-State Commission for another 36 years, or even 40 years given that Lagos State has joined the league of oil-producing States in Nigeria. Mboho recalled that she fought openly in the forefront for Akwa Ibom State to be given back the opportunity to serve out our due and statutory tenure fully and would want this to count in terms of benefits to the people of the State.
  7. The Mboho noted the pledge and commitment by His Excellency that the Ibom Specialist Hospital and the Le’Meridien Hotel asset management contracts as inherited by him just have to be renegotiated to make them easily implementable where benefits, responsibilities and penalties to parties are fairly articulated in line with best practices.
  8. The Mboho noted with satisfaction the pledge and commitment by the Governor to continue to be prudent and pragmatic in utilizing available resources to complete all ongoing projects initiated and inherited by him with understanding and cooperation of citizens.
  9. The Mboho noted with satisfaction the pledge and commitment by the Governor to continue in his pursuit of the State industrialization policy of his administration.
  10. Mboho called on all the political parties and candidates to play by the rules in the forth coming December 2, 2017 Local Government elections in the state, in the interest of peace, stability and development.

 

Akparawa (Eld) Monday Etokakpan, JP, FCIL         Akparawa Anthony Udoekong

International President                                      International Public Relations Officer