Why Akwa Ibom is building a seaport — SSG

Given your experience so far as SSG, what do you think are the problems of the state; how should the next administration tackle the challenges?  The problem of Akwa Ibom State is not different from the problems of Africa and Nigeria. But the administration of Chief Godswill Akpabio has taken various actions to see how […]

Given your experience so far as SSG, what do you think are the problems of the state; how should the next administration tackle the challenges?  
The problem of Akwa Ibom State is not different from the problems of Africa and Nigeria. But the administration of Chief Godswill Akpabio has taken various actions to see how we can come out of these challenges. And we have seen results.
The present government has really tackled a major aspect of the challenges, which was decayed infrastructure. The government took the bull by the horns, ensuring that a lot of attention was given to decayed infrastructures because that is the foundation of further development and wellbeing of the citizenry. The entire world will assess any administration based on that.
Before now, there was no flight to Uyo, the state capital. A lot of things were not here. But with the present government, under the leadership of Chief Akpabio, a lot of infrastructures have been built and old ones reconstructed. He has done more than 1, 400 kilometres of roads, with more than 32 bridges. We have built recreation facilities for hospitality and other things that will actually attract fast development. We are also developing a major seaport that will have a great impact on the economy of Akwa Ibom and its good people, as well as the country as a whole. The project was embarked upon in partnership with the federal government. I also think the model will incorporate the strategic investor. These are things the various governments in Africa should have paid proper attention to over the years. If they had done that, a lot of problems would have been taken out of the way.
Let me also mention that the present government has invested heavily in education. There is free primary and secondary education in the state. Women and children up to the age of five also enjoy free health care. These things are about capacity building, bearing in mind that a healthy nation will definitely be a wealthy nation. If you invest in education, wealth creation, health care and infrastructure, you are laying a solid foundation for the people, the state and the entire country.
Having done all that, there is the need for the next administration to, as a matter of urgency, look at industrialisation of the state.  Also, as a matter of urgency, employment opportunities should be created for the teeming youth. If you stratify a segment of our population, you would see that we have a whole lot in that bracket. The youthful age bracket is still very strong.

You said the state had improved tremendously in the area of infrastructure. You also mentioned that there are noticeable improvements in human capacity building; and there is peace in the state. One expects investors to start knocking at your door. Why are they not doing so?
They are knocking. To say that investors are not coming does not represent the reality on the ground. Investment goes through stages and processes. I just talked about a port development. On the average, it takes five to seven years to develop a deep seaport like ours. You can see that we are still on course. If you are building something that is enduring, you cannot get it overnight. Some of these things will take time. But the results will start showing in the future.  

What are the investments that have been coming in?
It cuts across sectors. This is one of the states in the country that is blessed by God. Even outside the oil, this is one state where an average peasant farmer does not need to see fertiliser and know what it is. The farmer would plant cassava, corn, yam and other crops and reap a bumper harvest without fertiliser. You can now imagine what would happen if those who are coming in now put a good mechanisation into that.
We have people across the sectors. We have agro-minded people, those in maritime services, etc. We have a lot of them. It is said, even in the holy book, that the earth was founded upon the sea. This shows that the development of the earth has a lot to do with water. So you can see that a whole lot of attention is given to maritime and ancillary services that will create employment. But I am sure you cannot just develop these areas in one or two years. It takes time, even to get some of these things off the drawing. As I am talking to you, the next visit of the president to the state is to grace a groundbreaking ceremony of the major methanol plant. We are talking of an investment of about US1.8 billion dollars. However, we do not give the names of such investors until they fully come in and begin to settle down. Such an amount of money comes from private investors, not the government.

In view of the fact that port development is on the exclusive list in Nigeria’s constitution, and you are building a seaport; how does Akwa Ibom State hope to address the issue with the federal government, especially in terms of the processes involved?
You are talking about moribund seaports everywhere. But the question is: Why is Akwa Ibom peculiar? If I remember my elementary aspect of marketing, I was told that consumption is a function of availability. Now, you have to look at what is available on ground in the state and other places. Over the years, it is one thing to mark an area and say you have a seaport and another thing to take proper action. What is the water level there, and how much have we invested to dredge the water? I can remember that over the years, even when we were in the university, there has been the question of how corporate bodies have been screaming on the need to dredge the Calabar seaport so that the water channel could allow vessels to berth. These are things that should be done first. So why is the Akwa Ibom seaport different? It is because it is a natural seaport.
We have discovered a channel where the water drought is over 17 metres; and the international standard is about 13 metres. Now, if the international standard is about that figure, and you are discovering 13 metres and above, and God has already given you a channel that is 17.3, it makes it a unique port. And that you cannot find in any other place except in Akwa Ibom State. Besides, if you look at our location in the Gulf of Guinea, you would find out that it makes the seaport more viable. This is because, in West Africa today, you cannot talk about trans-shipment without talking about our channel. And that’s because of our location. This will also serve as a major trans-shipment port for both logistics and other services across the entire Gulf of Guinea. That alone makes it extremely viable. That’s why I said we would promote natural maritime services. A ship repair yard can only be better here, and we have only received proposals for people to do that and so many other things I call ancillary businesses that will follow such a project. All we need to do is to provide infrastructure and enhance what God has already put in the water. By so doing, the entire economic life of the state will change. That is what we believe.
We know that development of ports is on the exclusive list in the Nigerian constitution. On the processes involved, the only way out is to enter into a partnership with the federal government, which is also what we are trying to do. Our initial model was that the state would take 20 per cent, the federal government would also take 20 per cent, while strategic investors would come in with 60 per cent. But nothing is cast in stone. The model can still change, but the details of what model we adopt at the end of the day would still be a mutual agreement between the state and the federal government.
We also need to remember that the project is about Nigerians, not the Akwa Ibom State government or the federal government. Irrespective of where we come from, we are, first of all, human beings, then citizens of the same country. There is the need for us to appreciate good programmes and projects, no matter who is at the helms of affair. The fact remains that as at today, we are in that partnership and we are making progress.