In today’s Make Nigeria Better series we visit Akwa Ibom State, aptly nicknamed The Land of Promise because of its huge economic potential

Ayo Akinfe

[1] By now, most Nigerians should be aware of the fact that Akwa Ibom is the largest producer of oil and gas in Nigeria. As a result, it gets the most federal allocation of all 36 states and in all fairness to its past governors, this money has been invested in infrastructure. Whatever one thinks of him, credit must be given to Godswill Akpabio for developing the state capital Uyo, building everything including a stadium, airport, shopping mall, golf resort, secretariat, etc

[2] Unfortunately, Akwa Ibom only went half the way and did not go the full nine miles as Dubai did. What they did in Dubai was use petroleum revenue to totally diversify the economy whereby tourism, the hospitality industry, financial services, etc, all became greater money spinners then crude oil and gas. Whether they like it or not, the Akwa Ibom State government has to do this too

[3] One area where I want to see this process start from is in aviation. Akwa Ibom State is uniquely located as the gateway to east, central and southern Africa, so the Victor Attah International Airport in Uyo has to become a regional hub, kind of like Cairo and Amsterdam airports. Fortunately, they have a state-based airline called Ibom Air to spearhead the process and they are also launching a maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Uyo. This should be expanded so that every African airline sends its aircraft to Akwa Ibom for repairs and maintenance

[4] Once this MRO facility is successfully up and running for say five years, it should then be time to invite the likes of Boeing, Embraer, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman, General Electric, Safran, Leonardo, Bombardier and United Aircraft Corporation to open assembly plants in Uyo

[5] Outside its main urban centres like Uyo, Ikot-Ekpene, Oron and Ikot-Abasi, agriculture is the main occupation of most Akwa Ibomites, with cocoyam, yam, cassava, maize, plantain, pineapples, etc grown extensively. Why is there not an Akwa Ibom Agricultural Company in existence in which the state government owns say a 25% stake that not only manages plantations but also processes all these crops for sale to domestic and foreign markets?

[6] Probably the biggest money spinner for Akwa Ibom will be the development of a deep sea port at Ikot-Abasi. Were I the Akwa Ibom State governor, I would do whatever it takes to get Ikot-Abasi developed into Africa’s biggest and deepest port. I would attract private investors, borrow money from London and New York and amortise assets just to get this project going. Be rest assured, within five years, it will pay for itself and start generating profit as we are already seeing with the Dangote Refinery. I am looking at something similar to Antwerp, Liverpool, Southampton or Rotterdam here

[7] Once we have an international sea port in Akwa Ibom, the state then needs to be connected to east and central Africa by rail to facilitate the movement of freight. Were I the Akwa Ibom State governor, I would float an Ibom Railway Company that would link Uyo, Ikot-Abasi and Ikot-Ekpene by rail with cities like Yaounde, Douala, Libreville, Kinshasa, Luanda, Malabo and Bangui

[8] Akwa Ibom also has historic tradition of fishing and heliciculture - snail farming. Again, there is no reason why the Akwa Ibom State government should not float an Ibom Seafood Company in which it holds a minority stake to tap into these markets. From what I can see, Akwa Ibom needs more state-owned enterprises than any other state in Nigeria

[9] What I find totally unacceptable is that despite its vast oil revenues, Akwa Ibom State is only 17th in Nigeria’s human development index in large part due to years of systemic corruption. Clearly, this Uncommon Transformation has not gone far enough. We need to upgrade it into an Unprecedented Transformation. To do this I would like to see traditional cottage industries like net-making, wood carving, raffia-making, blacksmithing and pottery all developed to empower local people. Maybe the state government should offer local artisans interest-free loans and five year tax holidays to set up

[10] In the southeast corner of Akwa Ibom State is the Stubb Creek Forest Reserve, a heavily threatened wildlife reserve that contains declining crocodile, putty-nosed monkey, red-capped mangabey, leopard and chimpanzee populations. Offshore, there are bottlenose dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins, humpback whales and killer whales. To tap into all this, maybe an Ibom Tourist Company is needed to provide guided tours to all these facilities. Why tourism alone does not bring in $10bn for Akwa Ibom as it does in Dubai is beyond me