THE increasing friendly investment climate in Akwa Ibom continues to yield dividends as a $J2billion Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, investment deal in the gas sub-sector is being worked out for the state. Also, another N35billion gas to gasoline project is in the pipeline and this is a project being worked on by Exxon/Mobil. These and many other fresh investment engagements, according to Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State are only being made possible by the favourable investment climate that “this administration has been able to put in place”.

In an interview, Governor Akpabio outlined the efforts of his administration in making the state investment friendly, just as he explained that some of the projects being erroneously described as elitist are the pointers that investors are seeing and for which huge investments are pouring into the state. Excerpts:

HOW would describe your relationship with your predecessors in office?

Well I thank you for that question because the relationship with the predecessors in office has been of concern all over the country, not just in Akwa Ibom State. People are really concerned about it. But 1 don’t think that should be the focus. The focus should be that new governors have come into office, how do they perform?

People expect a lot of things from governors. Their performance would not be measured on how well they related with their predecessors? There would always be predecessors. They, in their time, had predecessors and that did not stop them from carrying out their assignments.

My relationship with my predecessor, Obong Victor Attah, I believe, is cordial. However, there are still a lot of people who believe that for them to remain relevant; they must continue to rake up all these rumours of disaffection. Having said that you have to remember that sometimes it is difficult for an incumbent to totally please his predecessor because there are certain polices of his predecessors that he must change.

The change may even be as little as changing personnel of parastatal, or by way of changing policy direction or altering what is on ground. If you have to bring your own initiative to bear on trying to actualize your own vision for the people, such steps may not be to the liking of your predecessor.
The fact remains that predecessors must realize that government has changed.  And with such change, policy direction must also change government personnel must change etc.

What is important in the whole thing is that you have to employ political maturity in relating with the predecessor, two of you must not agree on all issues but efforts must be made to maintain peace and cordial relationship. For me, like I said earlier my relationship with Obong Attah is cordial.

Despite that I reiterate that there are certain decisions, on a daily basis, I am bound to take, which I know that my predecessor might not like. For instance, when we came on board, my predecessor left behind a drawing which was meant to be the renovation of the existing government lodge that he was staying in, the place had become dilapidated.

The estimate for the renovation was N1.8 billion. I said that 1 will not renovate it, when 1 can build a new lodge with N2.2 billion. Opposition came from left, right and centre. But I know that I have a mandate in my hand, and the mandate is to take good decision on behalf of Akwa Ibom people. So when somebody comes to say Oh! You should have renovated it, it docs not matter whether it collapses tomorrow 1 said no.

Do you have instances when you sought the input of the former governor in the course of taking certain decisions?

I have had private audience with him on three occasions. In those instances I sought his   views   on   some   programmes of my administration.  He obliged me some answers. The reason why in Akwa Ibom, it looked like a seamless transition is because it was also part of his government for about five and a half years. 1 was one of the commissioners.

I served in three different ministries Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Lands and Housing. I knew in a nutshell all the projects that were initiated.   When I came on board, I resolved that those projects must be continued because I believe they were in the best interest of the people of Akwa Ibom.

Because I was part of the administration, it was easy to quickly move in and ensure the completion of those projects. I did not just continue with the projects, I continued with the contractors handling them, the contractors on site.

For instance, the Independent Power Plant, the major contractors from South Africa are still the ones working there now. The project has reached almost 35 per cent completion. And of course, there was no need seeking his opinion on that. The scenario in Akwa Ibom is unlike some other states where new governors came in, whom probably were not part of the former administration, and tried to change what was on ground.

Such governors, who were not part of the former government need to, from time to tune, seek the views and input of their predecessors. In my own case I served in the former government for five and a half years. Apart from continuing with the projects of the former administration, I retained most of the commissioners. I retained about five members of the cabinet. Even the commissioner of Finance of that administration is the current Secretary to the State Government (SSG). The commissioner for Economic Development became my pioneer commissioner for Education. I just changed him few weeks ago. Then Head of Civil Service is my Special Adviser on Public Service matters. So it was almost like a seamless transition. Almost the same players were brought in because there was need for continuity.

In the last one and a half years you have been in power, there have been several petitions written against you, almost more than administrations before you, why do you think this kind of thing is happening and what are you doing about it?

Well first of all, I don’t think, petitions against me are more than that of my predecessors. It is unfair and inaccurate to make such claim. The last administration had its own dose of petitions. Petitions are not just starting with Godswill Akpabio and I don’t think they have increased in magnitude. You have to understand that some people have constituted themselves into opposition.

Let me take you back, when Obong Victor Attah came into government in 1999, there were no primaries, they did what they called consensus and he was hand picked by few people. In my own case we went through a terrible PDP primaries.

There were about 68 aspirants, the highest in the history of this state. By the time one person emerged you know the other 67 camps will not just go to sleep. You can imagine that within the first one year in office, those camps who are unhappy will not find anything good in the administration. Initially I was worried but later I told myself that I would be judged not based on how much 1 tried to stop petition writers but what my administration is able to put on ground. So I draw a line and moved on with my administration.

I think what anybody who is familiar with Akwa Ibom should be asking is that in the past years in the governance of the state, no administration has been able to achieve what we are able to achieve in one year. I am happy that indigenes of the state are saying so, some Nigerians who know the state are also saying so. I tell you, in a comparative analysis what we have achieved in one year in office, no administration in the last 10 or 15 years did that.

We commissioned 266 projects in one day   The projects are not those that were initiated by anybody. They were initiated and completed by my administration within one year. We were able to give close to 200 communities, electricity.

We went to the University of Uyo and tarred the internal roads of the university. These were roads that were never touched in several decades. The University had lost over 28 courses because of lack of accreditations. Students were roaming the streets without graduating in departments like Economics. Some of these students were in the departments for five to seven years. Students of Medicine could not get accreditation. Within one year in office, we have recovered the 28 courses. We have commissioned other projects in the university including a 1000 sitting capacity classroom. These are verifiable. We have changed the school’s landscape. The mobile police were staying under the tree until we built a befitting office.

They were in such agonizing condition for 13 years. We have dug borehole and constructed roads for rural communities. Before now, several parts of the state had no road. For instance Ikot Ekpene local Government, the only roads, they had were built in the 70s. The roads had turned into gullies. We intervened in 25 urban roads. We have commissioned many of them.

I tell you when, I commissioned market road in Ikot Ekpene, a woman brought out her wrapper and spread it on the floor. She insisted that the governor that did this must walk on the wrapper so that she will take the wrapper and keep for her children. She said that she never thought that in her life time the roads would be done.

In Eket, we are doing about 49 roads; the women of Eket sang a song that Godswill had been done in Eket. Before now the roads were left to the oil company, Exxon Mobile. The company wrote me a letter in appreciation of what we did. What we are doing is a major transformation.

In Oron, we are doing about 34 urban roads, Ikot Abasi 18 roads. We are also, for the first time, repairing federal roads up to the tune of 43 billion naira.

In Itu, we are dualising from Ikot-Ekpene to Aba . The Airport road is also being constructed. All these are federal roads. People are happy because these project are not on paper, the public and everybody are seeing them directly. There is a community called Ika, it was cut off for about 15 years, nobody could access it with a car. SETRA-CO has constructed the roads that were hitherto impassable.

I went to US last August to address Akwa Ibom indigenes in diaspora. Somebody told a story of how he could not recognize the road to his place because it used to be in a terrible shape. This is the kind of story that makes me happy. People on their own giving account of what is happening in the state without being prodded.

In the entire South South, Akwa Ibom is the only state that runs free education from primary to Secondary level. We are providing text books; we are also paying N300 per child in secondary school. The state is sacrificing more than N7billion yearly for this free education. We want to fight militancy, we want to fight kidnapping by ensuring that we have a literate population.

The only man that successfully ran free education was Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the old western region. It worked for the Western Nigeria. Akwa Ibom must change. I don’t want to dissipate my energy listening to petition writers. I want to be judged by the things I leave on ground when my tenure elapses.

Can you give a detailed explanation on what your administration has done with the IPP project and the contribution so far made by the federal government?

IPP was initiated by my predecessor but federal government bought into it. The federal government came and refinanced it in the tune of about $80 million. But as we speak the state government has spent over $200m on the project. The initial output would be about 91 mega watts and the second phase will be about 600 mega watts. While I am excited about even the 191 mega watts is because the entire state needs about 70 mega watts. This will supply power to the state. The project can give light to the state. Cross River and probably Bayelsa or Abia.

With the arrangement we have with the NIPP, we can afford to retain what we produce and the rest will go to the national grid: That is the interesting aspect of it. And if we achieve that, automatically, it means that Nigeria is getting somewhere. My prayer is that as we turn on the turbine, there will be no hitches. We will do that this October.

Despite the federal government’s involvement to the tune of $80 million, right now $30m is needed to complete it. The state government is funding it. 1 am committed to ensuring that we bring it to an end, which is why a lot is being done here since I came in. The other challenges will still be there in tenns of distribution. You know after generation some other groups will do the distribution. So the challenges are there in terms of transmission and distribution.

You have commenced moves to build multi billion naira entertainment centre, don’t you think that this kind of project is elitist?

I tell you this project is not elitist. The project is one of the ways I want to realize my ambition for Akwa Ibom. My vision for the state is that it should be a model slate. If you have a place of amusement in Akwa Ibom , like the type in Apapa, Lagos , it will attract children from different parts of the nation Aba , Umuahia, Calabar, Bayelsa etc.

We have a lot of oil companies working in the state like Exxon Mobil, Adax, and another new one that is coming to invest about $12M in LNG. They need a place like that for their children. A place for leisure for children that does not exist in Akwa Ibom stale means that a lot of people who spend money taking their children for holiday in Wonderland, Apapa Amusement park etc will now be spending such money in the stale. It means that they can keep their children during holidays totally engaged in the state.

In the place, also, you will have a lot of workers; people from the stale would be employed there. And that will create employment opportunities.

That facility also has a galleria. That galleria on its own has a shopping mall. We don’t have any shopping mall in Akwa Ibom right now. In Lagos you have shoprite etc but non in my state,. We are clamouring for oil companies to move their headquarters to the state. If they do, where would their women go for shopping. Definitely it can’t be at the local market. So having a mall where they and many others that come to the state will do their shopping is very important. Take for instance; Julius Berger has moved its regional headquarters to the state. With all these; you must cater for their social interest.

If you go to Silver Bird Gallaria in Lagos, you will agree with me that the business has broken even within two years. Several people go there everyday. So it is not the kind of investment that you will go into and you will not recover your money. You definitely will recover your money because people are going to rent the shops. I have been assured that the business will succeed by Silverbird which is going to run the gall aria.

I said before that it is not everybody that will go to the traditional market that we have now, several people definitely will patronize the shop mall. It will also help traders to have befitting shops where they can be and do their businesses.

We will also include Cinema viewing centre. When you see petitions in the paper about the project, the writers would naturally be saying that we want to build cinema centre for N33 billion just to demonize my administration. We are building amusement Park and water fall for children. Petition writers will not explain these aspects. Some mischievous people will say that he is using N33billion to build cinema centre that should not gulp more than N80million.

The truth is that such claim is born out of mischief, a sheer deception. They will deliberately not talk about the shopping mall. The society of today thrives on good ideas, in creative thinking. We have Tinapa in Cross River state because the people want to attract international attention.. And it touches me when some people come with lame argument that we should not aspire to have standard shopping mall. That is one aspect of the whole thing. In addition, this N33billion is meant to build another five star hotel that will not be less than 250 rooms. The vision here is that it will help change what is on ground in Akwa Ibom of today. I don’t often say it but it is the reality that the total number of hotel rooms in the state is less than 500.

Frankly speaking, it is less than that number. The Le’Meridien Hotel, the capacity is 150 rooms. What I met was less than 25. So we will build a 250 hotel rooms that are expandable. There is nothing wrong in having Le’Meridian which is already in place and Sheration or other top hotel. This will help people to make choices.

Outside hotel, there will also be 10,000 sitting capacity done. It will be the first of its kind here in Nigeria. Visit Sound city in South Africa, you see what 1 am talking about. What this will result in is that there will be massive influx of tourists. Apart from that, all the AGM of banks will be held in Akwa Ibom. Several organizations will hold their event in the state. We wanted to host the last edition of coral award.

They came to me from South Africa and expressed their desire to have the event hosted by Akwa Ibom. We accepted it. But when they told me that they were expecting guests of about 2,500, we rally went round to check number of hotel rooms in the state and they were not more than 400. It was shocking and embarrassing. The only option we had left was to accommodate the guests in Calabar and other states .So that was how we decided against hosting the event. Apart from that, all the AGM of banks will be held in Akwa Ibom. Several organizations will hold their events in the state, churches and political parties can use the place for their conventions or retreats, There will be indoor games etc.

When all this is done, I can look at Mobil and other oil companies in the face and say move your headquarters to Akwa Ibom.

Look at how much those who built the Coca Cola dome in South Africa is making. We will build our own and name it after any organization like Zain or MTN dome. All we are after is the money that such company will pay to the state. We are doing everything to complete our airport. By the time all this is done, the state will be better for it, it will be transformed. Everybody will enjoy it. If we encourage people to come to the state, Akwa Ibom will become developed. It is private individuals and companies that develop a place, not government. What government can only do is to set the tone for such development.

How do you intend to raise the money for all these projects?

Before I became governor I have been hearing the story that so much money has gone into the Niger Delta and so little was seen on the ground. I have made up my mind that that perception must change, 1 want to come in to government and work and leave and people will be asking themselves how I got money to do all these things.

I want people even without talking to me or any officials of government to, on their own, say yes there are things on the ground. We are not going to borrow kobo to finance the centre. However, you know most of these things there is procedure that is followed in executing them. When we awarded a contract of about N120billion to construction companies for repair and construction of roads many people screamed ah! Where will he get the money?

They forgot that road construction job is seasonal. They are not paid at the same time. It will take about two and a half years to complete the payment. We pay according to interest payment certificate (IPC). So if it is N150 billion, you can pay that in three years, N50billion in the first year, another N50 billion in second year and another one in the third year.

As government, you start early. It is frustrating for any government to start towards the end of the tenure. Right now, we have already completed more than 300 projects. In my first year in office, about 250 projects were executed. But right now, we have completed 300 projects. We provided electricity to about 3,700 villages. A total of 1,600 was connected to the national grid. I believe this is salutary.

I promised the people that if they elect me as governor, their lives will not be the same again and I am doing it, I have several other lofty plans for: residents of the state. I am not one of those whose coming to power was fortuitous, I prepared for it and I know that God will assist me achieve my vision for the state.