The Akwa Ibom State of My Dream By Joe Etokudor

Like Christmas which comes once in every year, the ritual of September 23, a day of the year, when Nigerians of the south- southern bloc roll out the drums in ecstasy over the advent of their socio-political identify as a state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is here again. 29 years ago, the Ibrahim Babangida led-military regime created Akwa Ibom State out of the former Cross River State. It is worth celebrating especially as the people look back at the tortuous trip to statehood; hence the talking drums, the clatters of unique dance steps, the finely brewed oratory and the cultural colonies that characterize the day are usually reminiscent of September 23, 1987, the birth day of Akwa Ibom State.

Customarily, government, the people and the press are wont to take stock at this juncture. Actually an account of 29 years of a people is a very short history, but for a state that emerged from a long course of hope, whose corporate destiny was almost capsized and whose eventual rise from socio-political bewilderment is setting it for the pinnacle, it is an odyssey that cannot possibly be recapitulated in a short print. From Col. Tunde Ogbeha to Deacon Udom Emmanuel it is a multi-chaptered compendium and intertwining potpourri of gains and pains.

In the very beginning the military dynasty ran the affairs of the state with Col. Tunde Ogbeha; Col Godwin Abbey, Wing Commander Idongesit Nkanga, Col; Yakubu Bako, Navy Captain Joseph Adewusi, and Group Captain John Ebiye. Every uniformed administrator actually acted the script of their master but remarkable in that line was the reign of then Wing Commander Idongeist Nkanga the first indigenous Governor while said the springing up of admirable tangible evidence of development that the toddler state needed of the state secretariat named after him. Even though he was dressed in Khaki, Nkanga’s era was the commencement of development of ours by ours. During the early formative stage, the economic profile of the state was not only commanded by military orders, it was also abysmally low, having been badly influenced by the obnoxious principle of Onshore oil Offshore Dichotomy while dictates that all oil productions  offshore belong to the Federal Government. The pittance that came from inland operations was one of the states could claim in that circumstance. The first democratically elected Governor, Obong Akpan Isemin (1938-2009) the captain of Noah’s Ark played a short scene, no thanks to military interruptions but he will be remembered for many things and may be forgotten for some but not this philosophy of the big picture while was set to deliver the Akwa Ibom persons from the mental angst of servitude, inferiority and smallness, popularly tagged “etok syndrome” and his offensive against the monster that the on-shore offshore oil dichotomy was. The principle was eventually abrogated in July 1992 under Babangida. The new political order of the third Republic set out the real course for the Akwa Ibom person to sit in the Hill Top Mansion to direct out affairs.

Obong Victor Attah, “The man of goodwill” came on board on May 29, 1999. The architect drew a development plan which created a platform for infrastructural growth. Most of his laudable projects were rolled over to the next administration, e.g the Independent Power Plant (IPP), Akwa Ibom Airport, Akwa Ibom State University etc. Regrettably, the budding political consciousness of the time seemed to create and widen ethnic divides amongst the one people. The consciousness of Ibibio, Annang, Oro dichotomy crept deeper and we were almost torn apart as a people. Every government action was seen to have a pattern suggestive of ethnic considerations. But it was indeed an era of hope. Attah championed the struggle for Resource Control; a struggle he said was “not a war” but a demand for fair share of the socio-economic benefits from the resources of our land; anchored on the principles of true federalism.

While the people were worried about the judicious, prudent and equitable use of the resources, Governor Godswill Akpabio, the digital governor came with the midas touch that remains on the stencil of time. The deft and crevices of micro-ethnicity that hitter to tampered with the unity of Akwa Ibom State have been sealed up. His equitable distribution of amenities, the disposition toward our oneness and an Akwa Ibom project and the evident performance speed reflected by unprecedented infrastructure and human development can be counted as our gains in the now.

From then Col. Godwin Ogagie Abbe (now a retired General to Idongesit Nkanga, a retired Air force Commodore and first indigenous leader of the state, Col. Yakubu Bako, late captain of Ubom Noah (Noah’s Ark) and pioneer civilian Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Akpan Isemin, John Ebiye (retired Group captain) Joseph Adeusi retired Navy Captain), Obong Victor Attah; Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio immediate past Governor for 8 years (now Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) and the incumbent, Deacon Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, the story has been that of one regime trying to do better than the other in the discharge of state function vis-à-vis development. Determined to make a change and leave behind a legacy to be remembered for, successive leaders in the state have however consciously devised means and ways of striking a balance between administration and mal-administration. What may have been the yearning gap created unknowingly by one regime has over the years been the bargaining power or strong points of the next government. While Ogbeha laid the foundation which Akwa Ibom State stands today, Obong Akpan Isemin and Idongesit Nkanga left behind legacies of self-worth and provision of infrastructural facilities which are today legendary. Obong victor Attah, a former National President of the Nigeria Institute of Architects who ruled Akwa Ibom State for a record time of eight years ensured that the right wrongly deprived the people under the veracious but now abrogated on/off shore oil dichotomy were given back to the people in a “fierce head on collision with the then Federal Government of under the otta chicken farmer and former president Olusegun Obasanjo. His successor Chief Godswill Akpabo who was obviously prepared for the coveted office of the Chief Servant” of Akwa Ibom State proved to even cynics who see nothing good in his regimes that the was on a rescue mission. Akpabio would be remembered by posterity for being the instrument through which God freed our people from the quagmire of under education with the introduction of the first ever free and compulsory education from primary to the secondary school leaves is eminently suited for the wonders his administration was known for.

The incumbent Governor, His Excellency Deacon Udom Emmanuel has also taken after his predecessor in introducing tremendous infrastructural renaissance in the state. The introduction of the Daakkada philosophy in the state has helped in no small measure in making Akwa Ibomites feel and look great as being created by God. His quest for a massive industrialization of the state is highly commendable. The question which is now being asked by discerning minds of Akwa Ibom extraction and even people residing and or doing businesses in the state is, “How far has the state and people gone, 29 years after creation?

Twenty nine years on and finding the difference to be quite diametrical and clear, these have enhanced our avowed positions and an increasing commitment to rise up and challenge every conservative attitude and values which have long plagued and militated against the rapid and radical change in our land. In our present and contemporary march to stall all things negating against a people’s purposeful growth, we should support the consistency of sustainable developments the vibrancy of increased physical changes and uphold them as the latest ethos and traditions of our great state. Let us move to kick against and up turn some anti-social tendencies that have oft been associated with our stalled growth. Some of these social but negative attitudes include poor attitude  in interpersonal relations, one to another, which is noted to have considerably heightened ethnicity tribalism, hatred, ill-will, Pull-Him-Down (PHD) syndrome, nepotism, favoritism, me and myself and I sprit and a myriad other social but debilitating cultural vices.

We must as a matter of our greatest need come together and build the bridges of union and not walls of division amongst us. We must ventilate our society properly and encourage the tenets of participatory democracy to follow and flow in the new direction of time Akwa Ibom people should challenge the attainment of the impossible by applying their minds to the realization of the most difficult and impractical of possibilities for God has given our generation a great opportunity in history and it is very instructive that everyone should join forces  together and not stand aloof in this concert of an ardent conviction to  attempt the enthrone the best ever believed and made possible for our common age- the continuity and good governance of Deacon Udom Emmanuel in office beyond 2019. Once we are able to join in asserting that goal and bring our joints like Joshua and Caleb of former Israel, we will, together say, that we are able to possess the land, and no doubt, that will be the Akwa Ibom State of my dream.