By Idowu Olaide 

As with the larger Nigerian society, Akwa Ibom State is at a key crossroads in its life as an evolving politico-economic entity. At this point, the future will either be bright or gloomy depending on the choice the electorate makes on who governs them during the forthcoming general election. However, as the governorship candidates sell their manifestoes to the electorate towards earning their votes, a concept that was unveiled a few weeks ago by the governorship candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Obong Bassey Albert (OBA), shows a decent measure of hope.

The governorship hopeful tagged his concept Operations Basic Amenities (OBA), an initiative which, as he explained, is all about prioritising the provision of basic social amenities to people no matter their economic status in society. Ordinarily, basic amenities ought to be the right of every citizen under any system of government, but that has not been the case in Akwa Ibom. Rather, the standard of living has been decrepit, to say the least.  

 According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as at June 2022, Akwa Ibom had the third highest rate of unemployment among the 36 states of the federation with 1.26 million people having no jobs. By November 2022, the NBS estimated that 51 per cent of nearly seven million Akwa Ibomites were unemployed. However, in a rebuttal, the state government through the Commissioner for Economic Development, argued that the unemployment rate was rather at 29 per cent. The NBS data also showed that 80 per cent of the people of the state lived in rural areas. 

Meanwhile, the state recorded the single highest inflation rate in the country at 27 per cent with the misery index put at 77 per cent. This means that 77 per cent of people in the state could barely survive. The high level of poverty in the state is without doubt linked to the absence of social amenities. For instance, if not for the provision of borehole water by individuals who run it as a business, many in rural areas and urban areas would be fetching water from streams, rains and shallow wells where possible. 

Drive around Uyo, the state capital, and you will find young people and old mothers carrying jerry cans of water on their heads, some in wheelbarrows; fetched from boreholes that are not regulated. If you can’t provide pipe-borne water, why not complement the efforts of private citizens looking to sell water and then regulate them? The irony is that the city has had infrastructure installed since the military era to deliver potable water to residents. Why not revive them and deliver healthy service to the people of the state?

 According to Nigerian Informer, drawing from national estimates, the state’s population grew from 4.6 million in 2011 to 6.5 million in 2021, a 41 per cent increase. The NBS, in a 2022 report based on its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), listed Akwa Ibom among states with poor MPI ratings. The MPI is in itself determined by four key indicators including health, education, living standards and work and shocks.

 Among the top 10 states with the least MPI were Ondo, Lagos, Ekiti, Anambra, Imo and even Abia, which we frequently joke about for lacking road infrastructure. Abia State grew in population from 3,720,000 in 2016 to 4,143,100 in 2022, an increase of 11 per cent in six years. Their monthly federal allocation grew by almost zero within the same six-year period. It was an average of N4.89 billion per month in 2016 but was between N3.99 billion and a maximum of N5.1 billion in April 2022.

 How did a state like Abia with a population increase of about 11 per cent in six years but with near-zero change in federal allocation grow to become one of Nigeria’s top richest states per capita while Akwa Ibom with all its abundant wealth was listed among Nigeria’s worst MPI ratings in the same period?  If one argues that the 11 per cent population increase in Abia State also increased the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the state, how about Akwa Ibom which grew by almost 41 per cent in 10 years (2011-2021)? Can anyone argue that Akwa Ibom’s population grew with only lazy people while that of Abia grew with industrious ones? 

How come the state is considered one of Nigeria’s poorest despite loans taken by successive administrations, the incumbent inclusive? How can Akwa Ibom with all its earnings be found in the list of “worst performing states in Primary Health Care (PHC) service delivery”, according to ONE Campaign as published in Premium Times newspaper recently? We keep asking questions but the government keeps issuing excuses as answers.

While the government and people of Bayelsa were basking in the joy of taking back their asset, they were taken aback by the revocation and subsequent handing over of the oil field to Halkin E & P instead of Bayelsa Oil Company Limited. A quick check and investigation on the company, Halkin show that Halkin Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited was incorporated only in 2019, shortly before the revocation of Atala oilfield in 2020 and there was no evidence to prove that the company has been engaging in oil and gas services and production and it is not in a position to bring the field to production including the drilling of more wells.

This is like one of the wonders of the world. The big question is, who are the cabals hiding behind a company incorporated barely over a year ago? Who are the men in the corridors of power promoting a company to appropriate a state’s asset for their personal aggrandisement, which is outrightly against the interest of Bayelsa State that is contributing well over 35 percent of revenue to the coffers of the Federal Government through crude oil production?. The truth is that there is conspiracy and there is a deal to rob the government and people of Bayelsa State of their prized asset. Despite the combined instruction by President Buhari and the Senate’s resolution to return Atala oilfield to the Bayelsa State Government, it is yet to be complied with, because of alleged under current forces trying all means to frustrate the process.

Already, there is a brewing unrest in oil producing communities with a threat to shut down oil installations, which amounts to taking the country back to the dark days of militancy in the Niger Delta. This is indeed an avoidable problem. The President of Ijaw National Congress, Professor Benjamin Ogele Okaba , the umbrella body of Ijaw ethnic nationalities aptly told the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,   PDP, Atiku Abubakar, during his presidential campaign visit to Bayelsa that ; “ Since 1956, oil and gas resources from the bowels of Ijaw nation, being spread across seven states of the South, have sustained the socio-economic wellbeing of Nigeria , contributing over 65 percent of the country’s oil and gas export”. Professor Okaba further stated in very clear terms that, “sadly, Ijaw communities bear the brunt and adverse effects of oil and gas exploration and exploitation,   while accruals are appropriated by the Nigerian state and shared among the federating states and individuals”.

The truth, therefore, must be told that chief Timipre Sylva has a moral burden to extricate himself of culpability in this saga. He is a former governor of this state and rode on the goodwill of the people of the state to currently be its representative in the Federal Executive Council. History is a bitch and as the administration of President Buhari winds down, Chief Sylva should do everything in his power to help redress the wrong done to his dear state by getting the Atala Oil Field returned to Bayelsa State.   

•Olaide, a public affairs analyst, is resident in Lagos.