The Akwa IbomState governmenthas said that its pursuit of a N200 billion bond issue is to further bring the dividends of democracy nearer to the people who are supposed to be the direct beneficiaries of good governance.According to the state government, governance in Akwa Ibom, being a transformational one, will continue to leverage on the ideals of its founding fathers to bring development in the state at par with global standard.Making this disclosure in an interview recently in Uyo, the governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, said to bring good governance to the people, the state was embarking on the bond issuance to bring development closer to the people.He said, 'When I came on board as the governor of Akwa Ibom State, my team looked at all the uncompleted projects we inherited from my predecessor and decided to complete the viable projects and then initiated others that have added value to our people. Akwa Ibom now has almost 2,200 roads that have been constructed to meet international standards. Akwa Ibom International Airport is the best in this country so far because it meets international standards as best practices were employed in the building of the airport.'He noted that: 'We have provided free medical services for the aged and children of between the ages of zero and five years. Education in Akwa Ibom State is free and compulsory and in addition to that, the state government pays for all candidates sitting for NECO and WAEC examinations. Workers in the state, in addition to the regular salary paid monthly, earn double salary in December which the civil servants now call AKPABIOMBER because they have never seen the type before.On how to further use proceeds of the offer; Akpabio explained that, 'the infrastructure we are providing will attract investors to the state. The infrastructure will help reduce the cost of doing business. Akwa Ibom democracy is the real definition of democracy as it is practised in civilised countries. It has a real human face because democracy means government of the people by the people and for the people.'We are going to build on industry and those things that should woo industrialists to the state. We have good road network; and have even taken over Federal Government roads because the roads are being used by the citizens.'My government has set aside N20billion for the purpose of industrialisation and we are calling on investors to come in because every local government has industrial estates where foreign investors will be given free land so that our youths can be employed. We believe that once our youths are occupied, crime will be reduced in the society.'We believe that once our youths are occupied, they will not be idle and think of anything evil. Therefore we want to create employment which will bring about wealth. Our vision for this term is employment and wealth creation and everything is in place to incubate this vision.'For us as a state, we have mapped out what we intend to do. Once we tidy up our financials we will come to the market to raise funds to be able to complete some of our projects.'N200 billion will not be enough for us to provide all the facilities we have planned to provide. We will need more than that, so we hope the capital market will assist us. We will come to the capital market by the time we tidy up our financial statement and other necessary requirements required by the regulatory authorities,' he added.
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