‘I want to see A’Ibom open up to unimaginable opportunities’

Obong Ide Owodiong-Idemeko, a political scientist and 2023 governorship hopeful in Akwa Ibom State, in this interview with TONY ANICHEBE, speaks on Akwa Ibom State at 34, the challenges confronting Nigeria and proffers possible solutions to move both the state and country forward. Excerpts:

Akwa Ibom State was created in 1987; where were you then and what was your reaction?

My recollection of that day is still very fresh in my memory. That was in 1987 at the time I was at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Camp in Jimeta in the former Gongola State, which is now split into Adamawa and Taraba states. It was an exciting feeling for all of us, who had arrived the camp as Cross Riverians and were going to depart the camp as Akwa Ibomites. It was quite a moment of celebration for those of us, who were beneficiaries of the new state, Akwa Ibom. We expressed a lot of enthusiasm and exuded hope for a better future of the state and her people.

Thirty-four years after, how do you see the state, a progressive or a failed state?

We are on the part of progress and could have achieved more than what we have achieved so far but we must give God all the glory. You could recall all the struggles to get a fair share from the revenue accruing form our resources, which was an outcome of a flawed federal apparatus and fraudulent social contract dating back to the unfortunate amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. Regrettably, all subsequent constitutional conferences that have been held in the country either before or after independence have done nothing to consolidate our touted Federal Structure. We were taken many years backwards by the incursion of the military in governance, the resources were not even there to use in developing the state. However, I think we have not done badly.

Looking at past leaders of the state, especially those elected under democracy, how would you judge their performances?

I will say that each and every administration had tried to add value to the development of the state starting with the visionary leadership of Obong Victor Attah, who tried to attract more resources to the state coffers to help run our economy, to the Infrastructural renaissance witnessed under Senator Godswill Akpabio and now, the industrialization era of Mr. Udom Emmanuel. We are lucky in this state to have leaders that have the desire to build. We hope that we can continue to deepen the structures of democracy and harvest the benefits from it.

Post 2023, where do you see Akwa Ibom State?

I will like to see Akwa Ibom become one of the major economies in Nigeria and be an economic power house to be reckoned with in Africa. Again, I am glad about the great enthusiasm that you find among our people on the need to see that the development and progress of the state continue to grow. With the passion among our people, I think the sky is our limit and with focus, determination, and leadership accountability, we will get there.

How will the state achieve these lofty dreams?

Democracy is about governance and leadership. If we have the right structures and progressive leadership, every other thing will be added to ensure we achieve our development priorities.

Thirty-four years after, what areas do you think the state has failed to do and what do you think could have been done better?

Apart from the big-time projects like the Science Park, Ibom Deep Seaport, we need to do a lot more in four basic areas, namely, education, healthcare, housing and food by making them available, affordable, and accessible to all strata of the society. Those are the four areas that I think we need to refocus to ensure that people overcome the basic physiological challenges in the hierarchy of needs. Yes, we have good private schools but the public schools need to be the institutions that help to equalize the existing inequalities between the very rich and very poor.

Are you worried with the recent rating of the state as second with highest level of unemployed youths and if you have your way as governor, how will you tackle the challenges?

We need to make agriculture more interesting for the young people, who avoid that area of the economy. We must embed agriculture in our curriculum from the early school child development. Agriculture has the potential to employ a large number of people and then our industries will concentrate on agricultural products we have comparative advantages to add value to the raw materials to become usable products. The Science Park has great potential of creating jobs. It is not decent to wake up early and see young people idling away, it does not speak well of any community, more so when you see youths at productive hours hanging around praise singing of politicians. We need to impact our children to work and those are two areas that will help create employment and mop up jobless youths off the streets. We can also go into recycling waste into wealth strategy and it will create a lot of jobs from the whole value chain. It is a case of thinking outside the box to see a lot of opportunities and leverage on them to create jobs for our youths. The dependence on oil and gas is not very sustainable in the long term.

Going forward, what will you like to see happen in the lives of the people of Akwa Ibom State?

I want to see Akwa Ibom open up to unimaginable opportunities. When I came to start my tertiary institution in University of Cross River State in 1983 as a teenager, the whole place called Akwa Ibom now was more like a glorified village. With Ikot Ekpene and Nwaniba roads as the only major roads in Uyo and narrow pathways connecting what is now known as Ibom connection. I have seen the state grow over the years and will like to see it expand geometrically if not exponentially. We should try as much as possible to make the state God has given us habitable, enjoyable and accommodating for all. The mass brain drain that happened in the 50s, 60s 70s, 80s and 90s, should now be a reversal of people returning to invest and help build the economy of the state.

You are the International Coordinator of the 1001 + Voices Initiative, tell us more about your advocacies and programmes.

We had the idea and it carne to fruition on September 30, 2017, when Akwa Ibom turned 30 years. A couple of my friends came together and discussed on how to provide leadership and see what we can do to impact democracy in our state. They requested I take the lead to fashion a pathway to true democracy for our people. We later got it registered as a not-forprofit organization and our major focus was how to deepen democracy and enhance the quality of the political recruitment process by identifying viable candidates and working with them to see how we can influence change. It is mass driven with people from all political parties in the group and the name 1001+ Voices is self-implied. We are trying to raise a voice where we can constructively engage the society and be able to make them to see the need to challenge the democratic ethos and make it much better for the future generation.

You advocate for Akwa Ibomites to start returning to help build the state; do you think that the opportunities are for them?

Massive opportunities exist, and we need to tap into them. Look at the rubber plantations, which we have here; it can encourage investment in rubber industries. We have gas, oil and clay, which can help in creating a viable and functioning ceramics Industry. We have raffia palm and one of the best sands that could be used in producing glass. We have a blue economy comprising our rich marine resources waiting to be harnessed. The whole idea is to get things work to our advantage. There are lots of opportunities, we simply need to identify and tap into them for our progress and development.

Why do you want to contest for the governorship in 2023 and what areas you will make a difference if you win the race?

Well, let me say that God has blessed me in terms of the opportunities he has given me in life. At a very young age, I found myself in leadership positions; I was the secretary general of students’ union government at the age of 18. I started building leadership competencies from then. I am 30 years in the oil and gas industry. I have been involved in human resources management for that period of time. In the last two years, I have been involved in security management. I have gone into lots of things including running a football club for about seven years, which exposed me to sports administration. I am vast in some of these things and these are competences I have built over the years. It is not something I will push under the table; I think that the society can benefit from it. The political office offers a bigger platform to create more value and give more to the society. As a graduate of Political Science, I know the powers within the reach of government and its machineries. They have the power and resources to help build and facilitate anything and if I find myself in that position, I should be able to bring my vision and thought process to bear. I think we need to have more participatory governance and democracy that engage with the grassroots people at community level. There must be development taking place at the same pace outside Uyo, the state capital, by encouraging growth centers across the length and breadth of the state. That’s primarily my assessment of what is needed to be done. We must expand development beyond the capital city even if it is at the federal Constituencies level. That is the kind of vision I hope to bring into government.

Talking about the future of the country and insecurity bedeviling the nation, do you see a successful election in 2023?

There is no crystal ball to make that very cogent forecast, but we should be worried about the increasing level of insecurity and what it portends for the nation in 2023. I don’t see Nigeria breaking up. The nation is like the proverbial cat with nine lives and always recoiling from the brink. It is also not the way to live. I hope that the current mop-up going on in Zamfara to clear it of bandits will be applied in moppingup Boko Haram and insurgents in the country, particularly in the North-East before the election. So, our leaders must rise up to the occasion.