The Special Adviser to the Governor of Cross River State, Senator (Prince) Bassey Otu on General Duties, Barrister Ekpenyong Akiba, has advised youths to shelve the proposed nationwide protest billed to commence on August 1, 2024, and engage in dialogue with critical stakeholders.
According to a report by Clement James, Barrister Akiba who spoke in an interview with New Telegraph in Calabar, noted that engaging in any form of protest at this time will be an ill wind that will do no good to anyone.
Admitting the fact that hunger was indeed biting hard on Nigerians, the Special Adviser on General duties to Otu insisted that: “The way forward is positive, robust engagement with critical stakeholders, including but limited to, leaders of thought, recognized unions or associations, and other critical players in the country.
“We should think of means and ways these problems should be tackled and these include unemployment, insecurity and resource distribution questions.
“I make bold to say that any Cross Riverian who joins the protest is anti-progress, anti-development, anti-what is justifiably productive because we have all been around and we witnessed different governments in the state.
“Even before this present democratic government, no governor has ever been able to deliver within one year and some could not even deliver in their first tenure. It was in their second tenure that they were able to consolidate.
“We lost so much and even private properties, those who were affected can’t recover from the experience. After the vandalization and looting that took place during the ENDSARS, do we still want to go back there?
“So for me, we don’t protest in the state because we believe that we have a governor who can manage our situation.”
Also, speaking as a representative of Governor Otu at an interactive session with with over 500 stakeholders in the entertainment industry at the Enterprise Development Hall on Monday in Calabar, as reported by National Compass, Akiba said: “As a state we had a terrible experience during the #EndSARS protest in 2020 and we don’t want that affliction to arise the second time, considering side-by-side the negative implications.”
Giving an insight on how the Cross River government would tackle the problems facing the citizens in the state, Akiba remarked: “Our modalities are very simple, we’re taking stock of the problems of Cross River people; the ceding of Bakassi, the equitable distribution of resources, increased revenue for Cross River, plus local and foreign interventions by way of investments, infrastructure and employment.
“We’re seeking a platform where people’s challenges are met generally; in terms of health, security, education, road infrastructure and employment. Yes there’s hunger and insecurity, but as a government, we’re deliberately working on measures to assuage hardship in Cross River State.”