A’Ibom Flays Critics over Closure of Syringe Factory, Construction of Worship Centre

Okon Bassey in Uyo

The Senior Special Assistant to Akwa Ibom State Governor on Research and Documentation, Essien Ndueso, has said it is wrong  for anyone to criticise Governor Umo Eno or his predecessor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, for the temporary suspension of operations at the Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing (JSM) company in the state.

Ndueso, while speaking in Uyo at the weekend, blamed the current Nigeria’s business environment for the continuous exit of multinational companies in the country. The company was the largest syringe manufacturing company in Africa.

It was inaugurated in 2017 by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The firm, while announcing temporary suspension of operations on January 3, 2024, cited unforeseen circumstances affecting its business operations as the major reason for its decision to leave Nigeria.

 Ndueso frowned on some critics for attempting to score cheap political points from the unfortunate situation, stressing  that the current national economic crisis was the major reason for the company’s temporary setback.

“We all know that since the removal of fuel subsidy, Nigeria is undergoing a serious economic crisis. Foreign exchange, import duties, and interest rates are basically the reasons companies are closing down in Nigeria.

“Outside Akwa Ibom state, several small and medium enterprises, according to reports, have completely shutdown operations while several big names have also scaled back operations,” he stated.

He said reports indicate that companies like GSK Plc, Nigeria’s second-biggest drug producer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Unilever, producers of famous brands like OMO, Sunlight and Lux have also announced stoppage  of operations.

Reacting to some critics who described the international worship centre as a misplaced priority, Ndueso dismissed the  assertions, stressing that there is nothing wrong in having a befitting central place of worship in Akwa Ibom State which is 99 per cent dominated by Christians.

“While prayers move mountains, praises move God. Before the Worship Centre was built, Akwa Ibom people, who are devoted Christians, used to gather under the sun at Ibom Hall grounds to praise God and for all other religious activities.

“For those who say that the money used to build a befitting temple of God would have been channelled into other things, let me ask; those states that haven’t built international worship centres, do they have free and compulsory education?

“Do they have better roads than Akwa Ibom State? Do they have more peace than our dear Akwa Ibom State? In what way are they better than Akwa Ibom State?

“When people talk about generation of revenue, have they told us how the Statue of Liberty in US generates revenue?

“The same people who gather every year to source for funds and visas to travel to the Middle East to go and worship God, are now turning around to criticise a befitting centre of worship that would engender religious tourism by our people,” he said.