Date Published: 11/18/09

Sir,

Akwa Ibom and her blessings

It is no more news that Akwa Ibom State is today oil-bearing State because of the cancellation of the offshore and onshore differentiation. This explains why when she got back the over 210 oil wells (76 from the neighbouring Cross River), Governor Godswill Akpabio proposed that the indigenes should converge at a place for special thanksgiving to God for that favour and to seek guidance on how to apply the stupendous resources that is now accruing to the State.

I am not a lover of the abrogation of the oil dichotomy because it makes mince meat of our States in the north in terms of revenue allocation from the federal coffers. We should not forget that the proceeds from the Cocoa of the West, Groundnut of the North and probably Palm Produce of the East were what made the early development of Nigeria.

What I am not sure is whether the money now accruing to Akwa Ibom State from the federal allocation is being utilized judiciously. A State with population of about three million people only, I do not expect any poverty there but on the contrary a friend of mine from the place tells me what is happening there is like “winner appropriates all”. 

Also another thing is whether the State appreciates those that God used in granting its present status because judging from what I read from the Obong Ndaeyo’s article, the present government, I now remember retrospectively, deployed all its arsenal against the woman, Lady Chrsity Essien Igbokwe, on a flimsy issue which later turned out to be politically motivated; but I doubt she is a politician. I also do not think that it did occur to any of the Akwa Ibom governments (past and present) to honour former President Ibrahim Babangida, the main God-sent architect of Akwa Ibom and her resources. I was in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital sometime ago and the Governors Lodge, located on a hilly area there, was inscribed “ABACHA HOUSE” (noticeable from any distance), in recognition of the man that created that State. What about the former governor Obong Victor Attah who Obasanjo dreaded for resource control fight; how is he being treated by the State now?

All this makes one think that Akwa Ibom could mean ‘ingrate’, whereas I know it is not.

Alhaji Mutum Bello, 1 Bello Close, Bukuru, Jos, Plateau State