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A�Ibom: Waiting for Mr. President
Haruna Acheneje
This weekend, President Olusegun Obasanjo will be in Akwa Ibom State. This will be the president�s third visit to the state since 1999. The last time he visited the state was in April 2003, when he was on a nationwide campaign tour for his re-election. Although Obasanjo, for reasons perceived to be political, does not visit Akwa Ibom State with the same frequency as that of Rivers or Bayelsa State, the expectations from the current visit are many.
First, the people will use the opportunity to say thank you to Mr. President for keeping his promise on the signing of the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy bill. Despite being a common problem for all the Niger Delta states, the oil dichotomy issue affected Akwa Ibom State the most. Almost all its oil resources are located offshore. This is Obasanjo�s first visit since the bill became law.
After thanking the president for his magnanimity on the onshore/offshore matter, the people are likely to express their dissatisfaction with the privatisation process of the two foremost Federal Government industries in the state. These are the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, at Ikot Abasi and the Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company, Oku Iboku, Itu. The people of the state would want to tell the president that the tardiness in handling the privatisation of ALSCON by the Bureau of Public Enterprises has made the entire process fail the transparency test.
Members of Ikot Abasi community are miffed that the sale of ALSCON over which they sent a delegation thanking the federal government is rolled back again for poor handling. The people will tell the president that they are not concerned about who buys the aluminum giant � whether BFI Group or whatever investor, or/and at what cost, but that the entity be sold reasonably and expeditiously for it to commence production as soon as possible.
Obasanjo may also be told in the state about the lingering industrial crisis at NNMC, Oku-Iboku, where some workers laid off some years ago, preparatory to the privatisation of the outfit, have dragged the matter to court over the determination of the amount that constitute their entitlements and other issues. The president is likely to be told that the Managing Director of the foremost but now moribund newsprint manufacturing company in the country is part of the problem of the corporation and therefore deserves to go.
The people of Akwa Ibom State are also likely to tell Obasanjo to change the leadership of the Niger Delta Development Commission, in compliance with the law that established the agency, and replace the incumbent chairman, Chief Onyeama Ugochukwu, with and indigene of Akwa Ibom State. The NDDC Act provides rotational chairmanship in alphabetical order. Ugochukwu is from Abia State.
Still on NDDC. In a recent interview, the Life Patron of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria, His Royal Majesty, Edidem Akpabio Udo Ukpa, blamed the lingering restiveness in the Niger Delta on the half-hearted release of funds to NDDC to make it more effective.
Ukpa also alleged that the federal government established NDDC with a great deal of reluctance, after the scrapping of OMPADEC. �Not that NDDC is not doing something, but they are not being provided with tools. Part of the tools is funding�, he said, appealing to the federal government to release the money due to the commission and on time too.
Efiok B. Akpan, the patron of the Niger Delta Youth Movement, in his observation of the problem of the commission, said, the only way to help NDDC out of its funding problem is to sanction those contributors known by law to be defaulting in remitting their due to the commission.
�First of all, we must know the contributors � the Federal Government, the nine oil-producing states, the oil companies and the private entrepreneurs. If the contributors don�t pay on time, they should be surcharged to pay a penalty as deterrent to make the commission more effective� he said. Obasanjo should be prepared to hear this.
The people will also roll out drums for Mr. President for the rehabilitation of federal roads going on in the state. But the chairman of the Civil Liberties Organisation in the state, Mr. Ku�ubra Uya, has a slightly different sentiment to the president�s visit. He said, �I expect President Obasanjo to display enough courage to address the humiliation of Akwa Ibom people and their interest in the national agenda through the abolition of isobars and other unnecessary jargons in the determination of the oil derivation fund. The president should also encourage Mobil to relocate their headquarters to Akwa Ibom State, to boost the state�s revenue and enhance the development of the state.�
The Special Adviser to the State Governor on Political and Legislative Affairs, Mr. Udoh Ekpenyong, on his part, said, �the people of Akwa Ibom State expect the president to see the difference between now that the state has started witnessing financial respite, arising from the resolution of the oil dichotomy problem, and few years ago when it was almost crippled economically. We expect Mr. President to see that the state has progressed exponentially, compared to the lull that was its lot during the trying times of onshore/offshore oil impasse�.
The visit will also afford both the president and his chief host, Obong Victor Attah, the opportunity to improve their relationship that got frosty during the onshore/offshore oil impasse. �The visit would improve the cordial relationship between the president and our governor, and even get better for the mutual benefit of all�, Akpan noted. It is in Attah�s interest that his relationship with Obasanjo improves because that will determine, to an extent, his (Attah) next political station in 2007.
Having been told all these and may be, more, Obasanjo would have something to tell the people of the state in return. Obasanjo is likely to call for support and understanding for his reform policies. He is going to sternly warn against lingering restiveness among youths in the Niger Delta region. Attah is going to tell Obasanjo about his achievements, which would include the Five Star Hotel at Nwaniba, the Ibom Plaza, the Ibom Power Plant Project, the Micro Credit Scheme, the huge wage bill, (almost one billion naira every month), the proposed International Airport at Okopedi (whose site Obasanjo may inspect), the Ibom Rice Mill at Onna, and the State University of Science and Technology at Mkpat Enin.
Obasanjo is not likely to be impressed by some of these projects because, apart from The Five Star Hotel and the wage bill, none of them is visibly on ground. They have, and for a long time now, remained at the level of proposal and plans, or at best, site clearing. For example, nobody is sure, not even the people at the Ministry of Education, can say for certainty, when the proposed university would take off. Some have said the university would commence admission in the 2004/2005 session, but others have said the institution would not come on stream until 2006.
The governor himself was quoted as saying that because the university would be a model, unlike its kindergarten type scattered all over the country, 2006 would be the take off year, to enable his government enough time to prepare for it. It has to be conceded however that a body to implement the take off of the university is already in place.
The president�s dissatisfaction is going to stem, in comparative terms, from the quantum of money, via statutory allocation/federation account that accrues to the state. Akwa Ibom is the second or third largest oil-producing state in the country. Since February, this year, the state has garnered, on the average, over N4 billion per month. This is outside the internally-generated revenue. The state has got to show more than is currently seen.
The president, in a subtle term, and in his characteristic bluntness, may advise the state government, to think seriously and deeply about how to vastly improve, beyond what obtains now, the standard of living of its people.
The Punch, Monday August 02, 2004
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The President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
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