From Penury to Plenty: How Gov Eno Transformed Lives in Erosion-Ravaged Landscape

By Anietie Usen and Imoh Etimudo

Before now, Nseobong Dickson was a struggling housewife and a POS operator in Oniong Offot, a village in the outskirts of Uyo, the capital city of Akwa Ibom State. For years, she eked out a living from the meagre profits she made from fellow villagers who patronised her POS business.

But lately Nseobong has struck a fortune, literally under the palm trees, that define the world-class tourism amazement, known as ARISE PALM RESORT, being constructed in Uyo, by the innovative Administration of Governor Umo Eno.

Today, Nseobong is the main POS operator in the massive construction site that boasts of 2000 direct construction staff and 10,000 indirect workers. The huge number of workers in this construction site translates into enormous pressure on Nseobong.

But it is good pressure that puts plenty of money into her pocket. “Said Ubong Willie, a welding supervisor at the sprawling 70-hectare site: “The woman is practically smiling her way now to the bank everyday”.

Nseobong is not alone under these beautiful palm trees that are now yielding more money than palm fruits. “Don’t you know that money does not fall from the trees”, most Akwa Ibom mothers are accustomed to telling their children who demand so often for money.

Not so anymore, especially in ARISE PALM RESORT. By just selling assorted fruits in the ARISE PALM RESORT, Imaobong Daniel an indigenes of Uyo village is also busy making ‘good money’, besides the palm trees, notwithstanding her little baby boy strapped to her back.

The resort is bursting not only with food vendors but artisans and technicians with various skills. Charles Effiong, a bricklayer from Anua village, near Uyo, said the project has diverted the attention of youths in the area from crimes and deviancy because “we are all very busy making reasonable money daily from the project site”.

One of the project engineers, Destiny Harbour, described Arise Palm Resort as “a hatchery of jobs” for skilled and unskilled workers. They include engineers, architects, masons, equipment operators, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers etc.

This is the story of the incredible impact of the makeover of a deserted landscape into Nigeria’s most beautiful tourist destination. This is not just
the story of the journey of a landscape from ruins to paradise, but the journey of lives transformed from nothing to something, from poverty to prosperity, all because of the vision of one man.

At 95 percent completion of the ARISE Palm Resort project, no expatriate has been engaged in the construction. “We are 100 percent local content. Whoever knows what to do is given an opportunity. We do not ask where you come from in Akwa Ibom or Nigeria. We ask what you can do. At one point, we went as far as Turkey and other parts of the world to recruit skillful Akwa Ibom designers and architects to build a world class club house for the Golf Course. About 75 percent of the work force are Akwa Ibom people while the remaining 25 percent are from other parts of Nigeria. We are all happy”, Harbour said.

The Akwa Ibom landscape right now has been literally transformed into a massive construction site by Governor Eno. “It’s never been so good”, said Udeme Udofia, a professor in the University of Calabar, who hails from Nsit Ibom LGA in Akwa Ibom State.

Presently, more than 85 ambitious projects, at various stages of completion have generated thousands of direct and indirect employment for the youths, with attendant and visible socio-economic impacts in the State.

Among these star projects initiated by Governor Eno, the ARISE PALM RESORT is emerging not just as the cynosure of all eyes, but as one of the legacy projects that has amazed and captured the imagination of visiting diplomats, top federal officials and locals alike.

Holger Knaack, a German business leader and global chairman of Rotary International Foundation, who visited Akwa Ibom State a little over three months ago, in November 2025, described ARISE PALM RESORT as “magnificent, world-class and a shining embodiment… and proof that impossibility is nothing when purpose leads the way”.

Ambassador Elsie Attafuah, the UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria said “seeing the Arise Palm Resort project firsthand has been an eye-opening experience”. Top Nigerian leaders in politics and tourism such as Festus Keyamo, SAN, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, have described the project as a “mind blowing, state-of-the-art vacation resort”, praising Akwa Ibom Governor, in the process as a “visionary Governor”.

In the words of Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, Nigerian business magnet, tourism advocate and politician: “This is a world-class destination that will place Akwa Ibom State at the heart of the Nigerian tourism map”.

But in the beginning, it was not so. One and a half years ago, this same landscape that is now attracting global attention and attraction, was a devastated, ravaged and deserted terrain, taken captive by years of
menacing gully erosion, that buried many homes and businesses and turned many communities into ghost towns.

One morning, on August 8, 2023, barely 10 weeks after he took office, Governor Eno appeared on the scene unannounced. It was in response to several SOS text messages he received from the overpowered neighbourhood in Ewet Offot.

Standing tall but looking aghast, the enormity of the problem nearly overwhelmed him but his imagination went beyond the normal erosion control remedy. “I personally feel the pain of the people living here in this neighbourhood… There must be a way out of this menace” he said firmly and left with a promise to return.

The way out has since not failed to amaze everyone who set their feet in what Imo-Abasi Jacob, a pastor in RCCG and MD of Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation, AKICORP, describes as the “8th wonder of the world”. Those who call it a modern miracle are right. Those who call it magic are not wrong. What is certain, said Deacon Peter Uwah, a community leader in Ewet Offot, is that “once, this entire landscape was life threatening, but now it is life giving and life sustaining”.

Everything a guest or a group of guests, families, tourists, event planners, conference organisers and fun seekers would have ever needed to be happy is in place in Arise Palm Resort. From a 9-hole golf course, a sophisticated club house, artificial lake with two floating restaurants for local and intercontinental dishes, to luxury apartments, clinic, fire service, police station, bank, pharmacy, children playground; various indoor and outdoor sporting facilities, everything is modern and ready.

The resort is big in sports. There are spotting facilities for football, lawn tennis, volleyball, basketball, badminton, squash, gym and others. Already, a squash competition has been scheduled to be hosted there in July, 2026.

The ARISE Palm Resort, built in 20 months, will generate an estimated annual income of between 20 to 22billion Naira when it is fully in operation. As the project awaits formal commissioning; what the contractors do now is cleaning and putting finishing touches to make the resort as clean as a whistle.

Said Faysal Harb, the Managing Director of Bulletin Construction Company, the main contractors handling the project: “We are more than 95 percent ready for commissioning…we are proud to be a part of this gigantic facility because there is no such project anywhere in Nigeria…”

Powered by three sources of electricity, namely public power supply, generators, a massive solar farm with the battery capacity of two megawatts, the resort is even equipped with multifaceted security hi-tech including a tech to locate misplaced or stolen phones. Unlike the rest of Nigeria where generators and solar power are alternatives to public power supply, in Arise Palm Resort, public power supply and generators are alternatives to solar power.

Said Thomas Larmema, CEO and President of Digital Learning Network, in Chicago, USA: “The breathtaking aerial view and standard facilities at Arise Palm Resort, show a commitment to excellence”.

• Usen and Etimudo write from Uyo