THE working visit of the president to a state is always taken as an opportunity by the governor of that state to showcase his achievements in the provision of infrastructure in the state.
So it was, last weekend, when Governor Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State had the opportunity to show to the world that he is indeed delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
The opportunity came in the form of a three-day official visit of the President to Akwa Ibom State, from Friday August 6 to Sunday August 8.
Although the President had visited the state twice in the past during his campaign tours in 1999 and 2003, last weekend visit was the first time he would be paying a working visit to the state.
The President had left no one in doubt that his visit to the state this time would be no picnic from the moment he stepped off the presidential aircraft at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar at exactly 1.24p.m on Friday, August, wearing blue Agbada and cap to match. He was in the airport for only four minutes for the reception and formalities before zooming off in his big black limousine Mercedes Benz to Uyo.
In Uyo, there were array of projects lined up for the President to either inspect or commission.
The projects could be classified into these broad categories: tourism, roads, housing, science and technology, health and agriculture.
While some states only point to a handfull of projects during presidential visits. Governor Victor Attah had an avalanche of projects ready for the President to inspect and commission in his tour of the state.
Tourism
The president’s first visit was to Nwanibe where he inspected the Ibom 5-Star Hotel, International Golf Course and the Marina. This project is the Obong Attah’s administration’s bold initiative at diversifying the state's and the national economy from oil to other sectors including tourism. Tourism, it is estimated, if well developed, could contribute about 30 per cent to the foreign exchange earnings of the country.
The Five Star Hotel which has reached an advanced stage of construction in lfiayong Usuk, Uruan Local Government Area is one project that has, among others, received the top priority of the state government.
Located in a very serene environment, with a beach area and a golf course of international standard, the hotel is a masterpiece in conceptualization and architectural design. The foundation stone of the hotel project was laid by the State Governor, Obong Victor Attah on November 20, 2001 and is expected to be completed and commissioned in August, next year.
In terms of facilities, the hotel complex when completed will comprise 120 rooms, 2 blocks of apartment suites with 48 rooms, 6 chalets with 15 rooms and conference centre. There are also central business facilities, restaurants, swimming pool, and sports area comprising 4 lawn tennis courts, table tennis, basketball and squash. An 18-hole golf course with practice range, golf club house and water front/tourism beach are other facilities that would make the hotel one of the best in the Niger Delta region and is expected to compete favourably with other five-star hotels in the world.
The handling of the hotel project itself has a rare touch of professionalism. The main building is handled by ABS Nigeria Ltd., the golf course by Jardin Development. and Associates Nigeria Ltd, while the waterfront Beach Development in handled by Pelican Marine Nigeria Ltd., all at an estimated cost of N9 billion. So far, about N4 billion has been spent on the project.
To underscore the seriousness and commitment the state administration attaches to the project, the State governor undertakes regular visits to the project site. As an accomplished architect of international repute, Governor Victor Attah in most cases offers professional advise to the contractors and consultants to the project.
The Ibom 5-Star Hotel will be managed by world class Hotel Managers, Le Meridian Group, which has also been deeply involved in the supervision of construction to ensure it meets the aesthetics standards of the Le Meridian world.
On completion, the hotel project is expected to boost the economy of the state, place Akwa Ibom State on the world tourism map, attract investors to the state, and help promote Small and Medium Scale Enterprises likely to service the Hotel and visitors and control capital flight as expatriate investors would be attracted to remain in the state.
The President most have been deeply impressed by the project and the level of work done as he was seen beaming with smiles and asking question from the governor and site engineers.
Choosing the hotel as the first project for the president to visit was no doubt a great idea as the President must have prepared his mind for greater projects ahead and that he would be really proud by the time he would be ending his visit to the state.
Roads
By far the largest portion of projects inspected and commissioned by the President were roads constructed by the state government, federal government and the Niger Delta Development Commission, crisscrossing several local governments and running into over 300 kilometres of roads combined.
These roads are the Abak-Ete road, Ekparakwa Ekpene Ukpa road, Abak Ete road spor to essene-Edemaya, Ikot Akpadan-Okoroette road, and the Urua Ita-Okopedi road.
There is no doubt that good roads are important to the rural dwellers as it would enable them transport their farm produce to the market.
This need, perhaps, is why Obong Attah decided to tackle the menace of bad roads in the state. Fortunately for the governor, owing to the compact nature of the state, a few kilometres of good roads in any direction will cut through several communities and impact on the lives of people in those communities.
So far, the state government has constructed several kilometres of urban roads in Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Oron and Abak and it is possible to reach any part of the state within one hour of leaving Uyo, the capital city.
Of the over 300 kilometres of roads, President Obasanjo inspected and commissioned during his visit, 105 kilometers of the roads are state roads and the state government plans to build a total 700 kilometres of roads before the end of its tenure in 2007. Fortunately, the Federal Government Calabar-Itu-Uyo road which had been in a serious state of disrepair has been fixed and is in a better shape than it has been since this administration came into power. Although there are still a few bad patches on the road, the Minister of Woks, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, to the delight of the people of Akwa Ibom, has promised that it would be made smooth as other good federal roads in other parts of the country.
The Ibagwa bridge, a narrow one-car-at-a-time bridge constructed about forty years ago had been a source of great concern to the people of Akwa Ibom State, and they used the opportunity of the President’s visit to appeal to him for the Federal Government to construct another bridge on the federal road.
This appeal got the presidential nod as President Obasanjo, after having inspected the bridge promised the state that “before the end of the year, we (federal government) will start work on that bridge.”
This is no doubt good news to people of the state and others as it had for long become a death trap to commuters.
Agriculture
Agriculture was the major foreign exchange earner for the country before oil was discovered. Since then, agriculture has been relegated to the background and what we now have is subsistence farming. To restore the place of agriculture as a major foreign exchange earner, and give employment opportunity to the teeming unemployed youths in the state, the state government in conjunction with NNPC/Mobil Producing and Midland Rice of the United States teamed up to set up the Ibom Rice Company with the aim of cultivating rice on 4,000 hectares of land, 525 hectares have already been cultivated and the proceeds would be harvested in the next two months.
Already $5.5 million has been spent on the project and two silos have been erected with giant mills and other equipment in place at the rice company. Four more silos are expected to erected.
To ensure the success of the project, the General Manager of Midland Rice based in Arkansas, USA, Mr. Jerry Bogard is in Ikot Ebidang, site of the Ibom Rice project overseeing the affairs.
The President, himself a farmer, took some time to inspect the facilities at the company, and he looked impressed by what he saw.
Science Centre, General Hospital, Housing Estate
The other completed projects done by the Obong Victor Attah administration inspected by the President included the science and computer laboratory centre at Eket, the General Hospital at Okobo and the 235 unit Shelter Afrique Housing Estate.
The President was so impressed by what he saw at the science centre, Ekit that he declared that the future of Nigeria is technology. Said he: “If we are going to make it in future, this is the time to start building the future. Our children should be the greatest investment for the future; we should invest on our children for the future and the future will be the future of knowledge, the future of education, the future of technology.”
The President is someone who says it as it is. He was however impressed by what he saw on ground in his tour of Akwa Ibom State that he had few scathing remarks for his hosts.
He however, urged the state government, Obong Victor Attah to do more in the area of Science and Technology and in the provision of healthcare to the people.
On science and technology, he said he expects the state government to build more science labs like the one he saw at Eket in about 60 per cent of the 246 secondary schools in the state before the next five years, and on healthcare, he urged the governor to complete the state’s target of twelve general hospitals in the state before the end of this administration or at least ‘all the twelve would have started before you (Attah) leave so that whoever takes over from you would have no choice but to complete the rest and even do more. The general hospital is very good in every standard,” the president gave his pass mark.
An indication that the President’s suggestions were well taken was when the Governor Attah was seen nodding his head and making notes of the president’s comments, which may mean that he hopes to do more before the end of his tenure in 2007, which ultimately would be the advantage of the people of Akwa Ibom State.
In the final analysis, the fact must be told that the President's visit to Akwa Ibom was a blessing to the people of the state as they had the opportunity to showcase themselves to the outside world as a state where investors can come in and their cries also elicited the President's sympathy on those projects that had been a bother to them for a long time now.
