Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has urged Nigerians to reason beyond political parties, partisanship and ethno-religious sentiments in their activities in general.
Rather, he said, they should look at the core value system that could build the country and the people.
Emmanuel gave the advice when he declared open the Second Quarter 2018 Forum of Secretary to the Government of the Federation with Secretaries to State Governments at Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort, Uyo.
According to him, what should be important for those in positions of authority is what they do for the benefit of the citizens and how they intend to see the country progress in the next ten to fifteen years.
He said the forum such as the one he was addressing should engender a new conversation in the country while also urging citizens to begin to see themselves first as Nigerians and later as politicians.
“Politics and politicians will come and go but the soul, spirit, abiding tenets and values of the Nigerian enterprise will endure,” he said.
The governor made a case for the celebration of shared aspirations and common destiny by Nigerians.
He said the growth of the country and its people should be of great priority in the nation’s political life.
The governor stated that the theme of the conference, “Improving Access to Social Services at National and Sub-National levels” was apt as it summarised the philosophical under-pinnings of what he defined as the social contract theory of governance.
“Government exists to provide services to the people across national and sub-national levels. Failure to abide by this need and demand means a great abdication of a cardinal responsibility and the resultant effect will be deep apathy and a resort to self help approaches by the citizens and that will not be good enough for us as a country,” Emmanuel said.
He asserted that if the basic needs of Nigerians were provided, a whole lot of security problems would have been solved.
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The governor reiterated his call for a review of the country’s education curriculum to train people on how to become entrepreneurs in every field instead of producing graduates who only come out to write applications for employment.
He reasoned that such entrepreneurial spirit would ginger economic growth as Nigeria already had the domestic market with about one hundred and seventy million people.
He warned against population being allowed to grow at a faster rate than the social services provided by government even as he reiterated the serious need for the provision of those services.
In an address, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, thanked Governor Emmanuel for accepting to host the meeting and his immense support towards its actualisation.
The SGF said the forum existed to give members the much needed avenue for sharing of ideas, comparing notes and assessing one another on the implementation of national and sub national policies and programmes of government.
