Wednesday, 2 March 2016

AKPABIOISM: THE UNCOMMON TRANSFORMATION OF AKWA IBOM STATE


On the 27th of May, 2014 Tozali crew packed up bags, baggages and cameras to Akwa Ibom State at the invitation of His Excellency, Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio for a tour of the developmental projects carried out under his tenure as governor. It was not the first time Tozali crew was making a tour of projects of serving governors. But it was the first time that we were totally overwhelmed by the unprecedented rate of development achieved within a tenure of two terms which hasn’t even expired yet. The rest of Tozali crew traveled by air, but I traveled by road to Akwa Ibom State. I mention this presumably unimportant detail because entering Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital city, by road from Port Harcourt gave me the first jolt of the rate of transformation that has taken place in the state since my last visit about eight years ago. Being a “Port Harcourt Girl”, there is this air of superiority of one who lives in the “Garden City”. So I always dismissed Uyo as a glorified village and looked at the other cities of Akwa IbomState as emerging settlements which can never hope to attain the envious status of truely urban centres. But on this day , as we entered Akwa Ibom State from Port Harcourt, even before getting to Uyo, the first thing I noticed was that the ride became very smooth. The bumpty bumpy of tyre on bad road which forces one to bounce on the car seat had ceased.
Then, we entered Uyo! If I were alone, I would have been totally lost. Roads I knew to be single narrow carriage ways had been dualized. The free flow of traffic was amazing and refreshing at the time after the horrible traffick experience of Port Harcourt.  Water fountains dotted the State Capital as did beautiful pedestrail bridges twinkling with neon lights. But these were just first impressions. The real tour was yet to begin.

The Tour of Uncommon Transformation Projects Begins
Where to begin was really a problem for us because all around us were evidences of this phenomenon of Uncommon Transformation. Our tour guide decided that we should just hit the road on the first day of the tour. We found the reason behind the ease with which traffic flowed in Uyo City: At strategic points were state-of- the-art flyovers; the type that many Nigerians see only in Hollywood movies, or in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. We counted up to five of these construction technology wonders within Uyo city alone.
Another uncommon wonder we discovered is the drainage system: An underground tunnel collects flood water from different parts of the city and channels the flood into a natural stream. This wonder technology ensures that flood does not take over the state and destroy houses and crops. The result is that while other states make news about flood and flood victims, Akwa Ibom State makes news about uncommon transformation.
The beauty of this uncommon transformation is that it is not concentrated only in the capital city of Uyo.Every senatorial district and every local governemt area is a beneficiary of Akpobio’s  Uncommon Transformation in one way or the other. As we were touring, we took note that almost all rural roads have been expanded and tarred. Sharp corners that constituted death traps as accident flash points have been bypassed or cut through and new dualized roads constructed.
Transformation of Prison Yard Site to Recreational Garden Park
The town of Ikot Ekpene was the first local government administrative headquarters under British colonial rule. This ancient city had a prison yard located right at the heart of the town. When our team reached Ikot Ekpene we witnessed that the prison site has been transformed into a recreational garden. In the place of the prison a beautiful park and a public viewing centre with big screen had been installed for the viewing pleasure of residents of Ikot Ekpene. A wonderful place for recreation and cooling down of blood pressure!
Suspended Bridge at Abak
We moved on from Ikot Ekpene to Abak. At Abak, we beheld another construction wonder: the suspended bridge. The Abak suspended bridge is reputed to be the first of its kind in West Africa. Apart from this suspended bridge the government of Akpabio has also built over 300 urban roads,6 federal roads, 34 new bridges, 4000 rural projects and given electricity to over 1000villages. We were really overwhelmed by the extent of road projects that have been completed and commissioned. But the road projects are just one musical note that constitute the overall melody of the music of Uncommon Transformation of Akpabioism.


The Ibom TropicanaTransforms Uyo into Global Tourist Destination
Akpabio does not just build a project and abandon it to rot. He makes sure that all projects of the Uncommon Transformation take off effectively. When he built Uyo International Airport, he put funds down as colateral to encourage airline operators to begin business in the airport. Today Uyo International Airport is bustling with travel activities. And the irrestible tourists’ attractions can hope to have free flow tourists in their numbers.

Notable among the most visited attractions in Akwa Ibom State is the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre. The Centre combines the image of the South African Sun City with the fame of Disneyland in Orlando U.S.A. The complex is complete with galleria, Cineplex housing six cinema halls with a capacity of 1030. The shopping mall contains 59 standard shops and two bank service corridors. In addition, for the comfort of tourists, there is 16 storey 250 room five star hotel within the complex. It has an ultramodern convention centre with a seating capacity of about 5000 people; plus a theme park with various dry and wet rides.

Construction work is still on going in the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre. But, at the same time, the cinema is alredy bustling with activities. At a government subsidised rate the beautiful culture of cinema leasure is made affordable to the masses. The Tropicana complex has also created thousands of jobs for the youths and promises to employ even more when the complex is fully completed and commissioned. As they say, “A well rested body and mind produce a peaceful personality.” The peace enjoyed by the people of Akwa Ibom could be accounted for by the leasure the citizenry have learnt to enjoy.

The E-Library: A Lasting Legacy to Research and Intellectual Advancement
Talking about the  uncommon wonders that have been done in Akwa Ibom State sounds like fairy tales until one goes there and takes a tour. The E-Library is actually mind blowing. At the time of our visit JAMB examination was actually on going. About 400 candidates were seated in various halls, each in front of a Plasma screen computer and taking the exam on-line. The exams were taken in batches and on different days. And you could get your score almost immediately.  Such a stress free method of selection is actually very refreshing, especially when compared to the tragic experience of jobseekers not too long ago during the selection exercise of Nigerian Immigration Service.


The library staff who acted as our guide during our tour of the library described the e-library as one musical note out of the many musical notes of the harmonious melody of the Uncommon Transformation Agenda of His Excellency, Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio. The E-Library is indeed a modern wonder. It is reputed to be the first library in Africa to offer the world’s largest collection of downloadable electronic books and audio files in MP3 format. It offers over Two Million (2,000,000) electronic fulltext books, downloadable without restrictions. It boasts of over fourteen million, five thousand, five hundred electronic research e-journals, fulltext articles viewable without restrictions. With this type of facility, Akwa Ibom State might just become the research headquarters of Africa. The complex also has web conference rooms fitted with all the electronic gadgets to enable international web conferencing assessible from any part of the world.

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