Ever since the turn of the new millennium, Akwa Ibom State an oil-rich zone endowed with abundant natural resources has witnessed remarkable transformation, defying its low-class national status since creation in 1987.
Prior to this period, the State had been viewed as a key exporter of housemaids, domestic servants, security men, drivers and cleaners to various parts of the country; which interestingly has been overtaken now by the North-Eastern States.
It took the visionary leadership of Ex-Governor Victor Attah who positioned the State as a potential economically viable entity with the initiation of landmark projects such as Airport, Le Meridien Hotel, Ibom Power Plant, Technology park amongst others to give it a socio-economic face-lift.
His successor Governor Godswill Akpabio has taken the transformation in a ‘revolutionary’ form with the provision of world-class infrastructure covering superb road-networks, the upgrading of the Airport for operations, the E-library, the Tropicana project, expansion of the Le Meridien Hotel and just recently the completion of the 30,000 olympic size stadium.
For anyone visiting Uyo, the narrative is no longer a backward or local town; the discussion now is a city on the verge of becoming a key commercial hub in Nigeria.
With the assessment of the level of progress made so far in the State, the task for unlocking the State’s economic and growth potential, is in the acronym ‘ITA’ which in the local dialect means ‘Three’ namely; ‘Industrialization’, ‘Technology’ and ‘Agriculture’ .
As the 2015 General elections countdown begins, the array of quality candidates like Chief Umana Umana, Senator Helen Esuene, Mr Udom Emmanuel, Mr Larry Esin and Mr Nsima Ekere amongst others, shows the State should not have a challenge in leadership; provided a free and fair electioneering process is guaranteed from the primaries to the election proper.
It is therefore imperative for the next Governor of Akwa Ibom State, to give top priority to the three aforementioned sectors as key components of the ‘economic agenda’ for 2015-2019.
First, an aggressive Industrialization plan with a strategic public-private sector initiative will reposition Akwa Ibom state to be a competitive zone in the country.
It will boost manufacturing, provide the enabler for large-scale commercial and retail activities, and will attract investments (foreign and local), and so the creation of the relevant industries that serve the increasing demands of a fast growing Nigerian economy, will be instructive.
Second, The touted agricultural revolution at the federal level, must be replicated in the State with the development of ‘Agric Zones’ in the 3 senatorial districts and the focus on food processing, agro-feeds, fertilizer production and agro-based equipment and machines manufacturing.
For the third and final aspect, the technological development should focus on the completion of the ‘Technology Park’ in Uyo, effective utilization of the ‘e-library’, deployment of ‘ICT zones and e-learning centres’ in major towns in the state namely; Uyo, Abak, Ikot Ekpene, Oron, Eket, Ikot Abasi and Etinan to boost the ‘new technology convergence learning’.
This will mean a repositioning of the Akwa Ibom State Investment Promotion Council (AKIPOC) as a one-stop hub to wooing and encouraging foreign investors who have interest in the Manufacturing, Technology, Agriculture and other areas of development
To Follow Trending Articles
twitter @mmdbozz
No comments:
Post a Comment