I and other investors are able to come to Akwa Ibom because the governor has formulated a framework to partner private investors to bring their investments, according to Onur Kumral, CEO, Kings Flour Mill. This was the testimony of most people interviewed when BusinessDay team, led by Osa Victor Obayagbona, News Editor, took a verification tour of Akwa Ibom State, in March/April.
Introduction
It is a well-accepted philosophy that ‘Leaders cast vision but they also define the boundaries’. This is why Rosabeth Moss Kanter in ‘The Change Masters,’ posits that “without structure, groups often flounder unproductively, and the members then conclude they are merely wasting their time.
“The fewer constraints given a team, the more time will be spent defining its structure rather than carrying out its task …. In short, leadership—the existence of people with power to mobilise others and to set constraints—is an important ingredient in making participation work”.
This brings us to the proverb, “Where there is a will, there is a way”. This wise saying has made Akwa Ibom State become a defining line on the emerging economic and connectivity map among Nigerian states in this 21st Century.
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When Udom Emmanuel assumed office as Akwa Ibom State governor on May 29, 2015, many, especially politicians who felt it was supposed to be them instead of him, vowed to make him fail. For the ordinary Akwa Ibomite, it was a pity for him, saying the political jobbers will frustrate him and make governance in the state as “job as usual”. His fellow corporates questioned his rationale of going into politics when he had better prospects of getting to the zenith of his career.
As a home boy, who understands from corporate experience that people respond to a vision when it is clear and compelling, he came up with a slogan – the Dakkada Creed; Akwa Ibomites, rise to the faith of greatness…
Today, the Dakkada Creed is a common song in the mouth of the state’s indigenes.
Realising a slogan cannot translate itself into anything meaningful, and knowing that effective communication is the key to driving the vision, he gathered men and women, both from within and in the Diaspora, to help him translate the vision into action.
To give a bite to the vision, he came up with the 5-Point Agenda in his first term, which is where the translation of an agrarian economy and civil servant state status started changes. To buttress the saying that ‘to whom much is given much is expected’ the Governor expanded the vision at his second term in office into an 8-Point Completion Agenda.
All these go a long way to fulfil the Biblical saying on Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish, …” and also the instruction on Habakkuk 2:2-3, “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
To make the vision to keep speaking, sometime ago the state government raised a committee to liaise with the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) committee to fast track the implementation of the Ibom Deep Seaport project recently approved by the Federal Government.
The State Executive Council approved the setting up of the joint committee to ensure a smooth take-off of the project following the report presented to the Council by the chairman Technical Committee on Ibom Deep Seaport Actualisation and Development, Mfon Usoro.
Ini Ememobong, the state commissioner for information and strategy, while briefing the press after the State Executive Council meeting, said all steps towards the actualisation of the deep seaport project were on track.
The Joint Project Committee by the NPA is to serve as a one-stop shop for all matters concerning the seaport between the Federal and State governments, while the state-instituted Committee will interface with local stakeholders to ensure smooth take-off of the seaport project.
The report on the Ibom Deep Seaport implementation presented by the chairman of the Technical Committee had informed the Council that the NPA had set up a Joint Project Committee for the Deep Seaport and also every step to be taken on that project was on track.
“To further push the project, Council has set up a committee to interface with local stakeholders for a smooth take-off of that project,” Ememobong said.
Speaking further on resolutions reached at the meeting, the commissioner said the Council undertook a review of quarterly performance reports of Ministries, Departments and Agencies and called for increased efforts towards the Completion Agenda – showing the vision is speaking.
Most importantly, despite the general lull in the world economy and drastic slow down among revenue generating agencies across states, and dwindling in Federal Government’s allocation to states, Akwa Ibom is not found wanting in terms of generating revenue internally. Since 2015, the state has positioned itself among the top 15 states, including Abuja, that generate reasonable revenue internally.
Among the states and Abuja, the state ranked the 9th and 6th position in 2015 and 2016; it dropped to the 13th position by 2017 and moved upwards to 11th position by 2018. By 2019, it accelerated better than most states and ranked 8th position. However, in 2020 it dropped by one point to the 9th position due to the challenges of coronavirus. Nevertheless, the Governor commenced the inauguration of development projects across the three senatorial districts of the state to mark his sixth anniversary, last week – finishing strong.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the state generates income via direct assessment, Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) tax, revenue from its MDAs’ road taxes, other taxes, and total taxes.
Why have these taxes and other revenue translated into the various sectoral changes that have become the norm in the state in recent times? The only answer is – the state is blessed with a seasoned manager of human and material resources at such a time as this, as the Governor made himself an anchor to the people in a storming sea.
Contributors: Aniefiok Udonquak, Uyo, & Gbemi Faminu, Lagos
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