NDDC INTERIM ADMINISTRATOR, AKWA TELLS LAWYERS: MAKE ‘BOLD, BETTER, AND BRILLIANT’ DECISIONS FOR NIGERIA; GOV. OBASEKI WANTS ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR PRODUCTION
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
Interim Administrator, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Effiong Okon Akwa (m); Founder, Nigeria Entrepreneurship Summit Honors, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju (right) and other.
The interim Administrator of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Effiong Okon Akwa has charged lawyers to make the right decisions which will lead to a better Nigeria especially as the country matches towards the elections in 2023. The interim Administrator made this known on the sidelines of the just-concluded conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.
Speaking to Trek Africa Newspaper in a brief chat, Akwa said: ‘I want to thank Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) for a job well-done for sitting down to deliberate on a theme that suits this year. There couldn’t have been a better theme than Bold Transitions. This is the year before the election year and we are going to transit into a new government.’
He addressed the members of the Bar, ‘By implication, the lawyers are very crucial in playing roles when it comes to electioneering whether as umpire, decision makers, or electorates. They have to take decisions that are bold, better, and brilliant for the betterment of Nigerians. What we are voting for is to have a better Nigeria – a better place for our children unborn.’
‘Information is power. An informed person will be able to take better decisions. An uninformed person will take a less informed decision. So as the days go by, we will create a legal base that will be able to lead the country to the next level’, he told Trek Africa Newspaper.
Governor, Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki speaking at the NBA Annual General Conference 2022.
Dr. Effiong Okon Akwa then praised the outgoing President of Nigeria Bar Association, Olumide Akpata for his leadership but wants him to solve the rift within his executive team. ‘Olumide Akpata as the NBA president is a wonderful person, he has done his job well. I want him to continue, the sky will be his limit. As he ends well, I will ask that he puts his house in order even as we heard issues about his executives. He should call a roundtable, there is no problem on earth that has no solution. He can end on a golden note.’
On his part, the Governor of Edo state, Gov. Godwin Obaseki told Trek Africa Newspaper that Nigeria’s economy requires an enabling environment for production to thrive. ‘The key is to focus on the enabling environment to make production available. First, there should be law and order in the environment, so we need to enforce security. You need to tighten up land ownership because everything happens on land we also need to look at availability of human capacity.’
‘These are basic requirements you need to get enabling environment. Capital is scarce. Everybody is looking for capital. But we must know that capital goes to where it is treated nicely and where it gets its biggest returns. So we need to create an environment that attracts people and encourage them to bring their capital so that they can get decent returns’, noted Gov. Obaseki.
Renowned economist, Prof. Pat Utomi tasked the Nigerian government to keep up its fight against insecurity. ‘We can’t be overwhelmed by terrorists in the country. We need to keep talking about the issues because when we talk about it, people will feel shame enough to do their responsibility’, he shared with Trek Africa Newspaper.
