Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, on Thursday, said the state desperately needs Federal government assistance in the area of gully erosion.
Udom who met behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari , listed the menace of gully erosion and bad federal roads as some of the issues discussed.
He said the state government had been intervening in some of the issues because they exist in his state.
He said, “We have problem of gully erosion. If you watch the news in recent times, you will see a lot of interventions and those devastating menace in some federal assets and federal roads which the state government has actually tried to intervene.
“On a few occasions, major commercial activities almost got to a halt because a major federal road linking both the South-South and the South-East collapsed due to gully erosion and the state government had to intervene. These things cost a lot of money.
“Even with that, you still need to carry on your own duty because those things exist within your state and as a state governor, you can’t just ignore some of these issues.”
Emmanuel said the fact that the past administration in the state intervened in some federal projects and the government had not refunded, would not deter him from taking up the interest of the people.
“My predecessor did so much, he intervened so much in much of these gully erosion and some of them were approved by the immediate past President.
“I am happy that you were aware that we didn’t get the refund, but that would not deter us from what we think is good for our people, as soon as the economy gets a little more buoyant than the level it is right now, the Federal Government will refund part of the money.
“It may not be 100 per cent but as soon as things improve, we hope the government will give us part of the refund,” he said.
He said despite being from the Peoples Democratic Party, the President who is a member of the All Progressives Congress has been welcoming all of them as the father of the nation.
The governor said governance has to do with the people and the nation, and not about partisanship.
“Governance is about the people, we are just focusing on one project, and to somebody like me, I have only one project at the back of my mind, and that is the Akwa Ibom people project.
“Issue of partisanship does not occur here. That is why you see us flowing in this manner.
“The President is just open-minded as some of us, who are actually focusing on governance and the people, and I am sure, within a short time, things will improve to a much more better level in the country,” he added.