Governor Godswill Akpabio has taken stock of the construction of roads carried out by his Administration in the last four years and declared that the state has set the record in road transformation in the country.

The Governor spoke on Friday night during a state banquet in honour of the visiting Deputy President of Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Onolememen, and his Minister of State, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda.

Speaking through his deputy, Mr. Nsima Ekere, Chief Akpabio said his Administration did not discriminate between federal and state roads in fixing roads because the roads were used by all. He joked that Akwa Ibom had given true meaning to the word, “commissioner,” as the state commissioners have been very busy commissioning thousands of projects started and completed by his Administration.

The Governor lauded President Goodluck Jonathan for his remarkable policies and programmes, which he said, were bound to transform the country for the better. He, however, lamented that Nigeria was yet to transform from a country to a nation, 51 years after independence, and called for attitudinal change among Nigerians to allow every citizen of the country have equal rights wherever he stays in the country.

Chief Akpabio said he has been championing unity in the state by carrying out policies and projects that benefit all irrespective of place of origin. He commended the people of the state for rising to defeat the ethnic card played by the opposition in the last general elections.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ekweremadu, said he was inspired by his visit to Akwa Ibom as the state was justifying the practice of democracy in Nigeria by delivering democracy dividends to the people through infrastructural and human development. “What is happening in Akwa Ibom is what every Nigerian should appreciate,” he stressed.

The Minister of Works, Arc Onolememen, described Akwa Ibom as the flagship of the collaborative action between the Federal and State Governments in infrastructural development and disclosed that a retreat was held in Akwa Ibom to examine the state’s outstanding road transformation.

“Because of what we have witnessed in Akwa Ibom, we have come to the resolve that the transformation of the road sector in Nigeria is a task that must be done,” he said.