All posts by Sunday Bassey

Women
By Sunday Bassey
Eket (Akwa Ibom) Dec. 27, 2020 (NAN) Mrs Bright Archibong, Wife of Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, has urged Nigerian women to be role models for the future generations.

Archibong gave the advice while celebrating the yuletide season with women in Eket Local Government Area on Sunday.

She said that women were the purveyors of peace, moral upbringing and prosperity of the future generations of the Nigerian family.

“Women holds a vital role in the future of Nigeria through family building and moral tutorials of their children.

“It is, therefore, pertinent that women should be the purveyors of peace, role models, moral upbringing and development of the country,” Archibong said.

She advised that women should continue to live exemplary life worthy of emulation by their children and family.

She called on women to remain committed to constituted authorities and thanked them for their continuous loyalty and support for the administration of Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom.

Archibong encouraged women to maintain COVID-19 pandemic protocols through social distancing, constant washing of hands and using of face masks.

She noted that the deadly pandemic ravaging the world was still very much around.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that customised wrappers, bags of rice, garri, noodles and other food items were distributed to women to celebrate the yuletide season.

Also speaking, the wife of the Chairman of Eket Local Government Area, Mrs Maryann Tommey, thanked the women for coming out en masse to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Tommey urged women to use the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ to pray for the unity and development of the country.

She promised to always carry the women along in all her activities in Eket Local Government Area.

Tommey thanked God for keeping Eket Women alive till December and reminded them to remain united at all times.

She also thanked the male leadership structure in Eket for always giving their full support to the women.

Earlier, Wife of the member representing Eket State Constituency, Mrs Ime Lawrence, appreciated the women and encouraged them to continue to co-exist peacefully with each other so that the local government could continue to progress speedily.

Mrs Emem Francis, one of the beneficiaries, expressed her profound gratitude to God and thanked the Leadership of Eket women for their benevolence toward them this yuletide season.

NAN reports that the women were happy, smiling and singing songs of joy as they expressed gratitude for reaping the dividends of good leadership in the area. (NAN)
SDB /EBI/AJA
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Edited by Benson Iziama/Adeleye Ajayi

$4.6bn Ibom Deep Seaport  to create over 300,000 jobs-Official

Seaport

Sunday Bassey

Uyo, Dec 19, 2020 (NAN) The Government of Akwa Ibom says the approval of  4.6 billion dollars by the Federal Government to build Ibom Deep Seaport (IDSP) will create jobs for over 300,000 teeming youths in the state.

Mr Akan Okon, the Commissioner for Economic Development and Ibom Deep Seaport, said this while speaking with newsmen in Uyo on Saturday.

The Federal Government had at the Federal Executive Council meeting, on Dec 16, granted final approval for the take off of Ibom Deep Seaport Project in Akwa Ibom.

Okon  said that the first phase of Ibom Deep Seaport would help address unemployment in the state, as no fewer than 300,000 youths would be actively engaged through the project.

According to him, the creation of jobs is part of modalities set by the state government to eradicate the alarming rate of unemployment in the state.

He said that the approval of the long anticipated IDSP would help in the implementation of  the state government programmes and policies to alleviate poverty and create job opportunities for her citizens.

“Akwa Ibom is industrialised because this project, when operational will solve and arrest critical problems in the state most especially the issue of unemployment and then stimulate our state economy accordingly.

“The total cost of construction of the Ibom Deep Seaport is 4.6 billion dollars but the first phase of it is 2.016 billion dollars which was approved on Wednesday Dec. 16 by the Federal Government.

“The structure of Ibom Deep Seaport is billed for 60/40 per cent that is, 60 per cent for the private sector and 40 per cent will go to the public sector,” he said.

Okon thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President, Minister of Transportation, and other stakeholders, who have in one way or the other contributed positively in making the project a success.

“They have shown that Nigeria is a country that when good projects with immense benefits for the country is presented, approval will be given for the best interest of the country

“Because the port will increase the revenues of both the Federal Government and Akwa Ibom,” he stated.

Okon reiterated the state government commitment to train the indigenes in Maritime and Oil and Gas related skills to place them in a position of advantage for employment.

“Recently, government has set up modalities for people to be trained on various skills that is related to the Maritime sector and also in the Oil and Gas industry.

“Our children should be encouraged to embark on relevant courses which will give them advantage in the Maritime sector.

“Akwa Ibom youths should position themselves to advantage of the emerging opportunities. “Therefore, there is need for us to strategically position ourselves and update ourselves with the relevant skills because every industry has its own basic skills of requirement,” Okon said.(NAN)

SDB /IAA

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Edited by Isaac Aregbesola

A’ Ibom revenue agency seals GTBank premises over tax default

Tax

Sunday Bassey

Uyo, Dec. 14, 2020 (NAN) The Akwa Ibom State Internal Revenue Service (AKIRS), on Monday sealed the two Uyo branches of Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) over unpaid taxes running into N184 million.

Mr Leo Umanah, Executive Director Enforcement and Recovery, AKIRS who lead the team on the operation, told journalists in Uyo that the two branches were on Udo Udoma Street and Abak Road.

He noted that the government agency had acquired an ex parte order from the state High Court, Uyo Division, restricting access to the premises of the bank and its facilities.

According to him, the order was issued by Hon. Justice Imeh Umanah.

He explained that the two branches were given warning notice on Feb. 4 that they had not been remitting the actual tax deducted from their employees’ salaries and other relevant taxes due the state.

He said further that GTBank was informed that by so doing, it had failed to comply with the provisions of relevant tax laws.

According to the AKIRS official, the bank had failed to comply with the warning after 10 months.

The director said that the bank had taken AKIRS to court in Uyo, Port Harcourt and Benin City over the tax remittance but the cases were struck out in favour of the revenue agency.

Umanah said that the the agency had exhausted reconciliation and negotiation opportunities with the bank.

He said AKIRS was left with no choice but get ex parte order to recover the government revenue.

He added that the bank was served the notice of distrain and under the law, they had 14 days to negotiate with AKIRS and vacate the order.

“If after 14 days, they do not comply, we have the mandate of the court to sell the property and recover the tax owed the state,” he said.

Umanah observed that many business outfits in the state were withholding government taxes running into billions of naira.

He insisted that in the ongoing enforcement drive, AKIRS was poised to recover the state government’s revenue to enable it to realise its “completion agenda.” (NAN)

SDB/ESAN/EMO
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Edited by Abiodun Esan/Ejike Obeta