Akwa Ibom at 35: Bringing in the Sheaves

Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Moses Ekpo, has been privileged to serve in the first executive council when Akwa Ibom was created 35 years ago. He highlights why the state should roll out the drums in celebration

He that goeth forth and weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” – Psalm 126:6.

That rhapsody of arrival and biblical “Uhuru” celebration song beautifully crafted by the Patriarch David, at once sets the tone and captures the nuances of the 35th Akwa Ibom State-Creation Anniversary, with the theme: “Moving Forward”.

The phrase, “precious seed”, is a fitting metaphor for the vision of our forebears with regards to the political and administrative self-determination which they sought. Given the depth of the agony from its birth-pangs; the unusual twists and turns of the struggle, and the stoical perseverance of Akwa Ibom founding fathers, there certainty was something mystical about the Akwa Ibom Project. It was indeed an odyssey of fate.

The story of Akwa Ibom State can be likened to the story of the Jews as captured in the Old Testament book of Exodus. The summary of the odyssey involves the formation of the Ibibio Union in 1928, and later the Ibibio State Union in 1948, with our fathers demonstrating consistency in the quest for self-determination; first, under the banner of the COR State Movement, COR signifying Calabar; Ogoja and Rivers. This quest led to the creation of the South Eastern and former Cross River States respectively with the dream of the Mainland people yet unachieved. 

On the 25th of February 1978, the then Paramount Rulers of the 10 Local Government Areas in the Mainland part of the state: Uyo, Abak, Oron, Ikot Abasi, Ikono, Ikot Ekpene, Itu, Ukanafun, Etinan and Eket; added their Royal voices to the agitation for state creation. This and many other coalitions of efforts eventually culminated in the creation of Akwa Ibom State on September 23, 1987, by President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.

The newly created Akwa Ibom state expectedly presented a drab profile of a toddler in dire need of fostering-care. Apart from the Civil Service, whatever economy there was, drew its strength from the subsistent activities of famers, fishermen and other categories of small-time business people.

There was dearth of basic infrastructure; the capital city of Uyo was a rural, dusty local government headquarters. The roads were not paved; and a handful of paved roads were filled with potholes. Accommodation was a huge problem. It can therefore be rightly said that the new state capital was a glorified village – though the hope and faith of the people in their ability to overcome these challenges were deep and infectious. 

The provision of infrastructure was a critical necessity for the regimes of the Military Governors of the state: Col. Jonathan Tunde Ogbeha; Col. Godwin Osagie Abbe; the late Wing Cmr. Idongesit Okon Nkanga; Lt. Col Yakubu Bako; the late Navy Capt. Joseph Adeusi and Group Capt. John Ebiye.

So also were infrastructure and other basic human needs, the pressing necessities for the civilian administrations of the late Obong Akpan Isemin; Obong Victor Attah and Obong Godswill Akpabio.

These men deserve commendation for the strong economic, industrial and infrastructural foundation they laid as receptacle for the economic revolution, including the state-of-the-art infrastructure, made possible by the present administration; particularly so, Obong Victor Attah, a renowned Architect, who justifiably holds the patent for the airport project and the general blue-print for the development of the state.

This was essentially the situation on ground when Mr. Udom Emmanuel, an investment banker, appeared on the scene in 2015, crying out: “Hey guys, we shouldn’t eat our seeds, we plant them for more and more seeds before consumption”.

And in the last seven odd years, the governor has studiously demonstrated to the people of the state how to plant our collective “seeds”, leveraging on the five cardinal points of Job Creation; Poverty Alleviation, Infrastructural Consolidation and Expansion, Wealth Creation and Economic and Political Inclusion.

The score-card is equally superlative with regards to the expanded version of the social contract, or the eight-point Completion Agenda, comprising Industrialization; Infrastructure, Aviation Development; Agriculture; Human Capacity Development, Security, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and Rural and Riverine Development.

This achievement profile is of course generic, and only a tip of the iceberg on what has been made possible by the administration’s strategy of going for the ultimate kill.

Signal projects such as Ibom Air; St. Gabriel Coconut Plantation and Refinery; the 21-Storey Dakkada Towers; the IBB Flood Control Project; the Ring Road,  in Uyo; the dualized 29km Etinan-Ndon-Eyo Road, connecting the East-West Federal Highway; the Ibom Deep Sea Port and the International Worship Centre which are both ongoing, collectively sum up the uplifting narrative of the Udom years, at least in the interim.

Components of the airport project such as its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul, MRO, and the Runway are testaments to the one-stop character of the governor’s development initiatives. In sheer grandeur of vision and novelty of delivery, Ibom Air alone qualifies as the face and signature of the Udom legacy, having effectively exploded the impossibility myth in the nation’s aviation sector.

Against the background of the limitless possibilities which Governor Emmanuel has come to represent, the myth of impossibility may be designated:  “inventiveness versus a generation of doubters”. And as consolation for the governor as he struggles with cynicism, as well as encouragement for future Akwa Ibom leaders who would wish to attempt the “impossible”, the following perspectivezation may be helpful. Seeing, it is said, is believing; and facts don’t lie! Accordingly, there is no need arguing over facts – you just persist in what you are doing, and invite the doubter to inspect the evidence.

Yet, it must be stated that the brand of doubt we find among our people is not the sort that questions the reality of aviation technology, for instance. No! What our own version of doubt says is that, “it just cannot be done – may be somewhere else, but not here!” This is self-doubt, aligning with the condition of the Nazarene brethren of Jesus for whom nothing good was possible out of Nazareth, and because of which they missed their opportunity for a revolution – for, according to the Holy Bible, the Messiah could not perform any miracles there.

The Obong Akpan Isemin popularized “etok syndrome” is immediately instructive and fundamental here. The phrase easily designates the strange species of docility and complacency found among a sizeable swath of our people – something that ultimately coalesces into a “comfort zone mentality” with the victim not only shy of ambition, but suspects and doubts any in-house manifestation of ambition as precocious.

But the Dakkada mantra of Udom Emmanuel preempts all these: it says with the alliterative appeal of a vicarage hymn, “rise to the faith (possibility) of greatness, rise to the faith that with God all things are possible, rise to the faith that Akwa Ibom was created by God out of greatness, rise to the faith that as a people we can move beyond (etok syndrome and earn something equal to the crude-oil-proceeds allocations of the bonanza years just by the creative entrepreneurial engagements with our God-given resources and brains, rise to the realization that the time for this is now!)”

In the course of the last seven years plus, Governor Udom Emmanuel has combined ethical and attitudinal re-orientation preachments with actual field-practice.

For humans and related entities, the age 35 is the highest point in maximum combination of health, strength and wealth. In the lavish infrastructural upgrade which we see today in our hospitals and the nationally acknowledged security oasis which Akwa Ibom has become under the watch of Governor Emmanuel, at 35 Akwa Ibom is indeed blessed with health, strength and wealth! On the crest of this, the  governor has not only registered bold and decisive steps in forging an economy for the state, but has actually crossed the Rubicon, setting the state firmly on the road to our economic Eldorado.

As we mark this 35th anniversary, an Akwa Ibom Hall of Fame is clearly taking shape. Front row occupants of the Hall are of course our forebears: Obong Sampson Udo Etuk; Prof. Eyo Ita; Dr. Esin Anwana; Sir Egbert Udo Udoma; Chief E. O. Eyo, alias: “Eyo Uyo”; Chief Ibanga Udo Akpabio and Chief Bassey Udo Adiaha Attah. 

Others are Ntisong Sebastian Umoren; Inyang Akpan Brown; Chief Ebong Ekpo Ukwak and Obong Sampson Udo Idiong, the grandfather of Her Excellency, the wife of the Governor, Dr. (Mrs) Martha Udom Emmanuel.

The Hall of fame necessarily beckons on the Paramount Rulers whose memorandum to the Federal Government clinched the “eureka” for Akwa Ibom State creation.

They are: Obong Simon Tom Akpan Nsubong II; ObongThompson Udo Uyoatta; Obong Ekpe Obong Atakpa; Obong E. U.Arthur; Obong Cosmas O. Akpan; Obong Jacob Akpan; Obong Aman Umossen; Obong Okon E. Isong and Obong Ekpenyong Udoekong.

And knowing that the soul of the revolutionary dance is in the flutist, our musicians and artistes, as the criers of society, come next in line for sustaining the Akwa Ibom Vision through epochs. This is not excluding the work-a-day Akwa Ibom person – man, woman, boy and girl. These all followed the progress of the Akwa Ibom manifestation, in thunderous rhapsody they received the “Birth” when it came 35 years ago, and today it is their ballot alone that decides who leads the struggle – a fitting place to address the question of legacy sustenance for Governor Udom Emmanuel.

Akwa Ibom people behold Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, the PDP gubernatorial candidate who is already qualified to join the Akwa Ibom Hall of Fame having demonstrated in private capacity that he alone can take the people’s relay baton from the present holder and advance toward the tape.

Our forebears and those who have since administered the state, represent vision; courage; resilience; doggedness; consistency; commitment and above all, faith in a God that can move mountains. Let us emulate their examples of peace, unbroken unity and mass-action, which Governor Emmanuel has persistently canvassed since coming into office.

Let the sincere and unbiased doubter go inspect the evidence of the Governor’s performance, get convinced and get involved even at this critical final-push-stage of delivery.

Let us rise, fill our glasses and toast to Akwa Ibom @35 to the glory of God as we bring in the sheaves from our labours of many years, and Move Forward in our Journey To World Class.

-Ekpo writes from Uyo