Akwa Ibom State government has waded into the lingering leadership crisis rocking the state chapter of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, NASSI, with the aim of bringing lasting peace.
Recall that NASSI, Akwa Ibom chapter, had been enmeshed in perennial leadership crisis which brought the operations of the union to its knees.
The Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Captain Iniobong Ekong (rtd) at a peace meeting with the warring groups, said, “You cannot be fighting continuously from generation to generation. There must be peace and dialogue, and that is what we have offered. I believe the agreements reached today will hold, and we are seeing a new beginning.”
Ekong said a strong and vibrant NASSI is pivotal to the success of Governor Umo Eno’s Arise Agenda on entrepreneurship and small business development.
He stressed that without a dynamic NASSI, efforts at promoting entrepreneurship under the Arise Agenda would “fall flat from the foundation”.
“But with peace restored, the association can properly execute its mandate of establishing and sustaining small and medium-scale enterprises across the state,” he added.
Ekong said while the ministry would not interfere in the internal administration of the association, it would continue to exercise supervisory oversight to ensure healthy relationships among stakeholders and to foster a trade and investment ecosystem that promotes growth.
“What we want to see, by the grace of God, is to leave this ministry much healthier, more focused, and better positioned than we met it,” he noted.
Also speaking, the National President of NASSI, Dr. Solomon Vongfa, who came for the peace meeting, lauded the commissioner’s intervention, describing him as a “peacemaker” whose maturity and commitment had restored harmony in the troubled state chapter.
On her part, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Entrepreneurial Development, Mrs Meflyn Anwana, described the peace meeting as “historic.”
She urged stakeholders to embrace unity and cooperation, noting that only a stable and functional NASSI would position members to access the numerous state and Federal Government grants and support packages available for small-scale industrialists.
Akwa Ibom Govt wades into small scale industrialists crisis, brokers peace