Akwa Ibom, one of the nine oil producing states in the Niger Delta region has been under the tutelage of Governor Udom Emmanuel in the past six years. Our correspondent, Dirisu Yakubu who joined a team of journalists on a tour of the state recently to access the development strides of this banker-turned politician, reports.

When on September 23, 1987, the military regime of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida created Akwa Ibom state in today’s South-South geo-political zone; not a few gave the new state any ghost of chance to compete with those before it, particularly in the area of self-sustainability and infrastructural development. With a handful of military administrators ruling the roost at the get-go; not much counted as positives for the people until the men in khaki gave way to democracy in 1999, when the state started witnessing semblance of democracy dividends.

Victor Atta and Godswill Akpabio were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in that order and when the latter served the maximum constitutionally-guaranteed two terms; the entire machinery of the party in the state look no farther in seeking a successor as they settled for Udom Emmanuel, the then Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government.

Born 55 years ago, Udom studied Accounting at the famous University of Lagos and holds a Master’s degree in Corporate Finance from Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. An associate member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Udom deployed his accounting skills in the service of the nation as a banker, rising steadily to the plum position of chief accounting officer with Zenith Bank Nigeria Plc, one of the largest and most capitalized Money Deposit Banks in the country.

Following his landslide victory in the 2015 governorship election, the University of Lagos alumnus wasted no time in unveiling his development agenda which he anchored on a 5-Point Agenda comprising of Wealth Creation, Economic and Political Inclusion, Poverty Alleviation, Infrastructural Consolidation and Expansion and Job Creation.

Armed with a team he carefully selected to help push his dream to fruition, he hit the ground running, churning out impressive statistics in the various sectors of the state’s economy. Leveraging on the comparative cost advantage the state boasts of in agriculture, the governor established a large hybrid rubber nursery at Ebighi Anwa in Okobo Local Government Area of the state in partnership with the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria and followed it up with the refurbishment of Cassava processing factory at Ikot Okudom, situated in Eket.

Still on agriculture, the state government procured and distributed 30, 000 hybrid plantation suckers to 700 farmers spread across the state. This was in addition to the installation of a maize preservation and shelling machine at Nung Udoe. Always leading by example, he was in the forefront in the state’s campaign for the planting of 500 citrus seedlings. 

Kicking things into high gear, he initiated and completed the construction of the Akwa Ibom Traders ultra modern market, made up of 25, 000 shops, easily one of the biggest markets in Africa. That done, youths spread across the 31 local government councils were trained on maintenance and installation of solar panels. As a big player in the banking world before his foray into partisan politics; Udom Emmanuel knew a thing or two about unemployment and its attendant role in the social upheavals bedevilling the Nigerian society.

Unemployment, it must be stated, is not often a function of lack of skills or credentials but inadequate opportunities to unleash creative energies, particularly by the youths. Aware of this reality, the governor in his first stint in office provided a N2 billion interest free loan to small scale entrepreneurs and traders; many of whom are employers of labour today.

Not given to mouthing his achievements, his strides in infrastructural development are matched by very few governors but surpassed by none. Under his stewardship, the state government dualized the 19.5km Eket-Ebeno road and the 12.72km Awa-Iman-Asong-Ikot Emem road even as it completed the emergency rehabilitation of Okopedi road. Also worthy of mention are the construction  of 6.1 km Atam-Offot road, located in Uyo local government area, the 4.6 km School of Arts and Science road in Nung Ukim, the 5.1 km internal roads in the state own university, Obio Akpa as well as the construction of gully erosion facilities along the Oron/Isangedihi road.

Months before the expiration of his first term in office, Akwa Ibomites were already nudging him to seek a fresh mandate on the PDP platform to consolidate on his achievements and in 2019, the governor proved bookmakers right, winning his election, much to the shock of his political foes who had predicted doom for the banker-turned politician, following a switch in political camp by those who saw the oil-rich state as a personal fiefdom.

Like he did in 2015, Governor Udom Emmanuel swept away his opponents in a convincing fashion in 2019 as the people of Akwa Ibom state, again trusted him for another fresh four years mandate. Shortly after taking his oath of office, he highlighted 8 development agenda. This time, the focus was on industrialization, aviation development, rural and riverine areas development, agriculture, human capacity development, security, infrastructure and small and medium scale enterprises.

Across these identified spheres, the Udom Emmanuel administration has done remarkably well, with a robust legacy in waiting to be bequeathed to whoever God will anoint as his successor in 2023 when he’s expected to bow out of the Government House, Uyo.

Two impressive projects, the Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, JSM and the Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services Limited, both established by the Udom Emmanuel administration, have remained on the lips of many Nigerians, given their economic mileage and production capacity.

Located in Onna local government area of the state, JSM boasts of a production capacity of 350 million metric tons a year, thus, making it the largest syringe manufacturing company in the entire African continent. As a testament of its rating in the global arena, the company recently earned the International Organization for Standardization, ISO certificate after meeting the necessary requirements.

The Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services Limited which began operation in 2019 has the capacity to produce 1.2 million electricity metres annually and given the increasing demand for metres by electricity consumers in the country, no one needs a seer to have an idea of the economic windfall which awaits one of Nigeria’s oil-producing states, in the future. The story would be more telling when opportunities for direct and indirect jobs are figured into the equation.

The 21-Storey Dakkada Tower, located in the Central Business District of Uyo, is a flagship project of the Udom Emmanuel Administration. The ground floor of the building is designed to accommodate banks, cafe/restaurants while the 2^nd to 20^th are available for lease as office spaces to international oil companies and world class corporate organizations. It is the tallest building in the entire South-South region.

The St. Gabriel Coconut Oil Refinery, located in Mkat Enin has the capacity to refine one million nuts per day through three work shifts. When fully operational, will provide 1, 300 direct jobs and more than 5,000 indirect workers through various suppliers and off-takers of the finished products of the company.

“If you check some of these units, there is a combination of Asian and European technology. We still need those Indians because a lot of them will take up the training of our locals and they will also take part in technology transfer to our locals. So, our prayer is that the situation in India improves so they can be allowed to travel and interact with other people.

“We should be able to troubleshoot certain things. For instance, once we are not processing coconut, we should also have a production line that can process palm kernel oil without changing a pan because we are very rich in palm kernels in this region,” said Governor Emmanuel while addressing newsmen on the tour.

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Apart from coconut oil, being more valuable than crude oil in the international market, coconut has the potential of being processed into over 50 products, especially beverages and confectionary.

Through the My Entrepreneurship Goals Program (MEGP), over 600 entrepreneurs have been trained capping around 1000 by December this year. The programme enables Akwa Ibom start-ups and existing entrepreneurs to define clear goals for their businesses, provides the right network for partnership and educates them on basic business tools which can guide them in making decisions for their businesses.

“By achieving the ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016 certification, JSM company Ltd will benefit from the opportunity of improving efficiency and customer relationship, team cohesion and cost containment,” said Olumide Ajibawo, who represented the ISO award body at the presentation of the certificate to JSM.

Today, Ibom Air (established by the Udom Emmanuel administration) has a fleet of 7 bombardier CRJ 900 aircrafts and covers six destinations-Uyo, Lagos, Abuja, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcourt. Interestingly, the fleet has indigenes of the state in the entire aviation value chain, including piloting, cabin crew and aircraft maintenance engineering numbering over 200.

Not surprising, the state government has already commenced negotiations with the Gambian government for possible regional operations of Ibom Air in that West African nation.

“We are actually planning a regional flight with Ibom Air. We hope shortly we should be taking delivery of two brand new A220 300 series Airbuses which we will use for regional flight,” Governor Emmanuel stated while receiving the Gambian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mihamadou Musa Njie in his office. 

A few weeks ago, the Akwa State Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority on oil, gas free trade zone; another feat considering the huge economic benefits.

In the course of the tour, Governor Emmanuel announced the readiness of his administration to unbundle Abak-Ika-Etim electricity line to improve power supply for consumers in the local government. This is in addition to the plan by the state government to build a substation in Etim Ekpo to separate the transmission lines for the three sister-local government areas and provide better power supply to consumers in the area.

In undertaking construction works in the state, Governor Udom adopted the deliberate policy of engaging indigenous contractors, thus creating wealth for the people of the state. A key difference of his administration is the engagement of experts and professionals in different fields to have a clear understanding of the needs of the people. This has paid off, to put it mildly.

Amidst the growing insecurity situation in the country, Akwa Ibom is arguably the safest place in the country today even as the governor has pledged to rid the state of criminals regardless of what they are called-kidnappers, bandits or herdsmen.

Married to his heartthrob, Martha, and blessed with four lovely children, Governor Udom Emmanuel is a serving Deacon of the United Evangelical Church.