Tinubu’s Upcoming Visit to Akwa Ibom

Etim Etim 

Last week, Governor Umo Eno extended an invitation to President Bola Tinubu to visit Akwa Ibom State and Inaugurate some of the projects executed in the last three years. The visit may happen in September, and may last two days. Details are, however, still being worked out. Akwa Ibom would be the 14th state to be visited by the president, either in-person, virtually or through a representative, since he assumed office. He’s already been to Lagos, Enugu, FCT, Adamamwa, Enugu and virtually inaugurated projects in Ogun, Oyo, Rivers, Cross River, Ebonyi, Kano and Katsina. I am hopeful that the president will come in person to Akwa Ibom, considering Eno’s enthusiastic support for him and the cordial personal relationships between them.

I join millions of others to welcome the president to Akwa Ibom and wish him an exciting stay. There’s so much for the president to see in the state, so much so that selecting what the president will see is a challenge, of sorts. How do you choose from over 1,300 kilometres of roads, 40 bridges, model health centres and primary schools, 1,048 housing units, maritime infrastructure, a sports academy, equipment leasing facility and model farms? Congratulations to Pastor Eno and his team for their hard work and indefatigability in three years.

Among the projects the president may inaugurate are the Arise Palm Resort, Nsit Atai – Okobo Road that was initiated by the Attah administration and has been under construction since Akpabio’s first term and the new airport terminal building which would be officially declared open for business. The terminal building also has a long history dating back to the days of Obong Victor Attah. Another long-delayed project that is being completed by the governor is the International Convention Centre and the Tropicana Hotel, both located within the Tropicana Complex. I will therefore not be surprised if the phrase ‘’finisher’s anointing’’ would come up in the course of the two-day visit.

The expression essentially sums up Eno’s attitude in governance: get the job done, no matter who started it and don’t bother about who takes the credit!  The Arise Palm Resort is a first-class family-oriented entertainment and leisure centre. It’s built on a piece of land reclaimed from a gully erosion site. It’s a story of a leader’s resourcefulness in managing scarce assets. Mr. President would be reminded of the story of Eko Atlantic City which was also built from land reclaimed from Atlantic Ocean – a feat that has saved Victoria Island from going down the ocean. Guess which governor initiated that reclamation in Lagos?

The Tropicana Complex in the heart of Uyo alone offers so much to see. Designed as a big entertainment and shopping complex, it would be a major tourism attraction in the city – similar to Grandscape or NorthPark Centre in Dallas – when fully completed next year. Just the other day, I drove up to see a new shopping complex under construction in the complex. That would be a star attraction, close to Dubai Shopping Mall.

There are also hundreds of roads, bridges, hospitals, schools as well as the CNG bus service and bus terminal that the president may not see. Some are actually located in far flung places outside Uyo. The governor may therefore brief the president on those things he won’t see; things like the 350-bed international hospital and the medical corridor under construction and the various housing estates the government is building to help ameliorate the huge housing deficit in the country. Since security issues have been dominating headlines in the last three years, Governor Eno may also showcase the new Command and Control Centre which would be of immense importance to the Akwa Ibom State Police Command whenever the nation’s policing structure is fully decentralized.

In other states the president has been to in person or sent a representative, roads constituted the bulk of projects he inaugurated. In some, the president even inaugurated projects funded by the Federal Government. There is no such federally-funded projects in the state that is ready for inauguration, but I have no doubt that the president will have reasons to commend Governor Eno’s focus and zeal.  

Presidential visits offer two-way benefits. For the president, it’s an opportunity for direct communication with the people, allowing the leader to assure the citizens of government’s support and providing him an opportunity to make bold pronouncements. For the governor, it is a moment for showoff and display of his performance to a national audience. Such visits are major media events, and planners typically go the extra mile to leverage on the visibility the occasions bring forth. Tinubu’s state visit to Akwa Ibom State would be the first time a president has come this way since 2012 when Jonathan visited. Throughout Governor Udom Emmanuel’s eight years, he refused to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to the state, preferring, instead, to bring then Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo every now and then. Governor Emmanuel detested Buhari for some inexplicable reasons. Their relationship deteriorated further after Senator Akpabio defected to APC in August 2018. The former governor did not bother to cultivate interpersonal relationships with persons of different religious and political persuasions.

Presidential visits could also be unpredictable. In 1992, late Christy Essien-Igbokwe of the nation’s best singers and performers, suddenly stopped singing and went and knelt down before Gen. Ibrahim Babangida during the state banquet. She said that she was not going to get up until IBB promised there and then to abrogate the onshore-offshore oil dichotomy. IBB obliged and promised to look into the matter. The excitement of the people were unprecedented.  In 2004, President Obasanjo visited Akwa Ibom and then-Governor Attah complained of lack of federal presence in the state in his welcome speech at the banquet. In his response, Obasanjo said that Attah was not correct in stating that there was no federal presence in the state. ‘’What of your ADC, governor, who is always standing behind you. Isn’t that a federal presence?’’ Obasanjo retorted in his typical mischievous manner.

In 2012, the state was preparing to receive President Goodluck Jonathan in one of his numerous visits during the Akpabio days. I wrote a full length article, welcoming the president to the state, and reminding him that Akwa Ibom has not benefitted from a single federal project since its creation in 1987. I concluded by saying that Jonathan has a responsibility to rectify the anomaly as a Niger Delta son. When the day of the visit arrived, Jonathan sent his Vice-President, Mohammad Sambo, to represent him. I was later to learn from the then-governor that Jonathan was piqued by my article and was not sure of the reception he would get, and so he sent his VP.  This time around, Akwa Ibom people would be eagerly listening to what the president would say when Governor Eno reminds him of the state’s long-standing aspiration to build a deep sea port.

Since this visit may be coming just as the presidential campaign season opens, you can also expect a high dose of politics and politicking in all the speeches.

 Welcome, Mr. President!

* Etim, a journalist, writes from Abuja