By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Africa cannot achieve the growth desired through investment, until problem of insecurity is tackled, Governor Udom Emmauel of Akwa Ibom State has said.
He stated this in a keynote lecture delivered at the 17th Africa Security Watch Conference at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center, Banjul.
The governor also reasoned on the need for African leaders not to depend on cash instead of creating money in the quest to develop their countries, saying that, doing so will slow the process.
According to Governor Emmanuel, “cash is limited, but money is limitless and it can be created. In starting Ibom Air, my state government did not use cash, we used money. We couldn’t have started the airline with cash, because we didn’t have such, but we created money and today, many years running, we are the only sub-national in the continent with a commercial airline, which is doing very well. Even the government of The Gambia has approached us to create a route to Banjul. So African leaders must use money, not cash, as the basis of development. Until development is achieved, insecurity cannot be quashed.”
He made this assertion as a part of his paper on the topic: SUSTAINING SECURITY IN AFRICA THROUGH GOOD GOVERNANCE: A PANACEA FOR INSECURITY.
In his welcome remarks, the President Chief Executive Officer of Security Watch Africa Initiatives, Mr. Patrick Agbambu, said the conference invited Governor Emmanuel to share his development strategy which has not only made his state peaceful, but has attracted huge Foreign Direct Investments there at a time when investors are divesting from Nigeria. He said the the organization has been monitoring the steady improvement of the state on all areas of development.
He also commended the Nigerian Navy and their counterparts in all the nations along the Gulf of Guinea, for frontally combating piracy and making the waterways safer for economic activities.
The event which was attended by the military top brass across Africa, diplomats, Senior Security operatives, ECOWAS representatives, senior civil servants among others, is one of the continent’s most prized security conferences, where key decision makers converge to X-ray the state of security of the continent. The Conference was declared open by His Excellency, Adama Barrow, President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of The Gambia.
The Governor was accompanied by Comrade Ini Ememobong, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ekerete Udoh, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Duke Fubara, Honourary Special Adviser to the Governor on Security matters and Mr. Aniefiok Thomas, Director of Special Services Department .
