Sights, scenes and sound of Akwa-Ibom

Although Akwa Ibom now takes the biggest chunk of the oil revenue from the federation account, and does not have natural tourist endowments like its neighbour, Cross River, the state has embarked on projects that when completed, would become attraction sites and boost tourism revenue for the state. Already foundation work is going on for […]

Although Akwa Ibom now takes the biggest chunk of the oil revenue from the federation account, and does not have natural tourist endowments like its neighbour, Cross River, the state has embarked on projects that when completed, would become attraction sites and boost tourism revenue for the state. Already foundation work is going on for the construction of the Ibom Tropicana Complex. A replica of Tinappa in Cross River, though modified and modernised, the State Governor, Godswill Akpabio described it as “a colossal architectural masterpiece designed to cover a landmass of about 81 hectares, criss-crossing two major ring roads.”

He said the entertainment complex which is modeled on places such as World 66 Dubai Nightlife and Entertainment as well as the CocaCola Dome in Johannesburg, South Africa would have facilities like an international conference centre, a convocation centre with a capacity to sit 2000 per a floor, a multi-purpose exhibition hall, a 15 storey, 258-room hotel and VIP suites with 24 hour café and lounge bar.

Other facilities that would be found in the complex are a continental restaurant on the ground floor, bouquet hall, swimming pool, tennis court, gymnasium centre of international standard, malls and Cineplex housing several kinds of retail shops, eateries, coffee shops and a kindergarten for kids. The complex, when completed will also have wet an dry parks with  associated wave pool, TOTS pool slide, lazy river ride activity pool/play structure, inner tube slide and high thrill slide, mini jets, kiddie wheel, mini tower, tea cups, space gum, giant wheels (33m), drop zone, bumper cars, pirate ship, jolly jump, top dancer, traffic jam, family coaster and cosmic shows in the open theatre.

When Sunday Trust with a team of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) secretariat visited the site, work was still at foundation stage with piling going on. But the Project Manager, Architect Kingsley Aduak said the project will be completed in 2010 as 33 percent of the contract sum had already been paid.

The governor said that in order to support the tourism drive, he has also drawn a framework for the development of Ibom Industrial City. According to him, “I have resolved to develop infrastructure that is capable of supporting tourism, oil and gas exploration, shipping, industries and international trade within the free trade zone framework.”  He said its establishment is envisaged to be a panacea to addressing the future growing labour and employment needs of Akwa Ibom State.

The city would span the verdure, charming coastline of Mbo, Esit Eket and Ibeno local governments, on a 12, 000 hectares expanse of land. According to documents, survey on the site has already been completed and a team of consultants has been engaged with Worley Parsons, an internationally recognized engineering firm leading as a main consultant, while Bluebird Capital Limited, an investment company in Nigeria has been appointed as project manager.

The industrial city would have a deep sea port with a natural shoreline of 11 to 13 metres open to the Atlantic Ocean and overlooking, Malabo, and four other West African coastal cities. The city would serve as an operation hub for deep offshore activities for oil  and gas, house the Gas to Liquid Natural Gas project by Exxon Mobil and the Liquefied  Natural Gas Project, be a part of the proposed national rail network and be designated as an economic export zone. “The rapidly expanding economy has created a demand for the movement of goods and services and deregulation and privatization policies have encouraged private participation in projects like seaports,” Akpabio said.

In order to make movement into the state easier, especially as most federal roads are death traps, the state is about completing the first phase of the Akwa Ibom International Airport. “Instead of flying to Calabar airport before travelling on road to Akwa Ibom, people can fly to Uyo straight when the airport is completed. We also want to make Akwa Ibom the preferred destination for tourists, rather than Calabar,” the governor said.

Already a 3600 x 60m runway has been completed with a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and air cargo services facilities to serve the entire West African sub-region. The control tower and the main terminal were also at the finishing stage.       

With the completion of the first phase of the five star, 170-room, 18-hole golf course LeMeridien Ibom Hotel &Golf Resort, and with plans to build additional 350 rooms in a 12storey building structure, the state might be at the verge of becoming the tourist destination of the Niger Delta.

But observers felt that the projects were too ambitious for the governor to successfully complete, even if he is elected for a second term in office. Considering the huge financial commitments require to execute the projects, if they were abandoned,  the state would stand the risk of wasting enormous financial resources that would have helped tackled unemployment among youths, critics who preferred to remain anonymous observed.

In his argument, the state governor maintained that the projects were only ambitious in the sense that they were long term investments that would at least employ 2, 000 people. “Akwa Ibom must prepare for post oil era. These projects are vestiges of modernization that will not only prepare the state for post oil era but make the state the preferred destination in the south-south,” Akpabio said.

But for Simon Jerome Udofia, a carpenter who wanted to work as a labourer at the Ibom Tropicana Complex but could not get a job, unemployment was the biggest challenge the youth in the state were facing. “There is so much nepotism in the system. There is no open employment to indigenes, only those who are related to government officials are employed to work at the site here.” He said those of them that are not connected to people in government circles have been waiting at the gates of the project site for over two weeks since work started.

When contacted, the Project Manager, Architect Aduak denied the allegation, saying that employment at the site was open to every Akwa Ibom indigene but as at the moment, only skilled labourers in specialized fields were needed and were been engaged.