The gubernatorial candidate of African Action Congress (ACC), Mr. Iboro Otu has said that the development of a deep sea port is the responsibility of the Federal Government, saying that if he becomes the governor of the state, he will only support the efforts of the Federal Government in that direction.
Otu stated this at a debate organised on Sunday for the governorship candidates by the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State Council.
“Developing the deep seaport is not a priority, it should be delayed for at least 120 years. I will support the Federal Government to develop the port but we will develop our people first before developing the port. Let the Federal Government construct the seaport,’’ he said.
All the governorship candidates in the state, excluding those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), attended the event.
They kicked against the payment of pensions to former governors and have promised to discontinue it if elected into office.
The candidates further said that it is unfair for former governors to be paid pensions when majority of the retired civil servants, who served the state for 35 years, have not been paid by the state government.
The candidates of the APC and PDP, Akan Udofia and Umo Eno respectively were absent at the debate which attracted a sizable crowd and was sponsored by Action Aid and Project Alert, among others.
The candidates who attended the media debate are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ezekiel Nya-Etok; New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), John James Akpanudoedehe, while Obong Bassey Albert also contesting on the platform of the Young People Party (YPP) who joined the debate through a zoom link said he would only support medical reimbursement for former governors and not the payment of pensions, as Iboro Otu of the African Action Congress (AAC) said it was not a reward seat promising to abolish pension payment to former governors. ded,” he said.
The Comptroller also said that 481 bales of second-hand clothes, 700 packages of machetes and 107 packages of shovels were also among the list of seized items.
He explained that while some of the items such as vegetable oil and second-hand clothes were contraband, shovels and machetes were detained pending provision of an End-user-certificate from the Office of the Security Adviser.
The comptroller also said the command generated a total sum of N92.32 billion in 2022, a 12 percent higher than the N81.31 billion revenue generated in 2021.
Muhammad attributed the increase in revenue to monies generated from Port Harcourt International Airport Port Harcourt International Airport and Excise duties from International Brewery and Nigeria Bottling Company.
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