The Punch opinion article that is giving Akpabio sleepless night

Several sponsored persons and non-existence groups in Akwa Ibom State, Think Akwa Ibom! gathered, are perfecting their strategies on how to come out ‘massively’ in defence of Gov. Godswill Akpabio. In case you missed the opinion piece, read it here after the cut…..

 

Governor money-miss-road

By Abimbola Adelakun

Friday last week, President Goodluck Jonathan, accompanied by Presidents John Mahama of Ghana and Alassane Quattara of Cote d’Ivorie flew to Akwa Ibom State and inaugurated the 30, 000-capacity Akwa Ibom International Stadium, called the “Nest of champions.” The project was wholly financed by the state government.

Days before the event, some journalists fed us to constipation with stories of the stadium’s magnificence. They threw up the phrase “world class” while describing the edifice that at some point it became clichéd. You would think they ought to take some time and enlighten us on the projected revenue earnings of the project.

The state governor, Godswill Akpabio, was the man of the moment. Like most Nigerian politicians, Akpabio loves hyperboles and there was no better occasion to dish them out than at the occasion. If he had stopped at envisioning world-beaters springing from the stadium, his hyperboles would have been less insufferable. But bent on maximising his photo-op, he launched into the worth of the global sports industry, noted the earnings of sporting stars like boxer Floyd Mayweather, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and tennis star Serena Williams, and concluded that Nigeria deserves some share of the money.

How that was supposed to happen from the stadium apparently escaped the governor’s top-down tunnel vision. I guess his speechwriters left that to his listeners to figure out by themselves.

The National Stadium, Lagos – like, the similarly named National Stadium, Abuja, – are imposing sports facilities built on crass rationale and ambiguous dreams. Nigeria has yet to visualise how to make these projects a money making venture. How does Akpabio’s own propose to be different?

For those about to defend Akpabio’s sporting vision, a caveat: This is not the first time he imposed a white elephant, for that is what the stadium is, on the state. There are other glaring instances of his misplaced priorities.

In March, The Nation reported that Akwa Ibom was going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with SnowValley Europe Limited for the building of a snow resort. You read that right; a snow resort in Akwa Ibom State! Akpabio was quoted as saying, “This project is not only essential in Nigeria but also in West Africa. We want to move the country forward with this type of project. The world is a global village and we need our children to compete with the rest of the world by creating quality facilities.”

How a snow resort in Uyo will translate into West African children competing effectively with the rest of the world might have to be prised out of the governor’s hyperactive imagination.

Then, the Tropicana Entertainment Centre, built at a staggering N33bn, is another instance. In July, The Nation again reported, “Initially, N100 was charged at the cinema. After stabilising the centre and ensuring enough traffic flow of people, the rate was increased to N250 while the state government is still subsidising the amount. During one of his visits to the centre, Governor Akpabio explained that the state government was subsidising the centre to encourage the low income earners enjoy one of the best facilities of the state government. Akpabio admitted that the economy of the state has not developed to the extent where the low income earners would be spending N1, 500 in watching a movie.”

You might want to ask Akpabio why his government built an uneconomical entertainment centre that was obviously not part of his people’s immediate priorities. Where in the world does the state subsidise entertainment? And, was he not one of the governors who stoutly rejected fuel subsidy in 2012?

Then in November, the same governor launches a multi-billion-naira stadium. Given more time and enough money, Akpabio will build a shrine to the god of hedonism. He seems to prefer the easier and superficial road to development; the one that gives us something to gawk at, praise and even celebrate with a vanity fair. Such pretentious achievements do not take hard work neither do they require profundity of thoughts. Instead, they exist on abracadabra – you keep looking in one direction while the sleight of hand is going on elsewhere.

Before Akpabio embarked on these projects, did he work with feasibility studies? Did he pay a visit to Tinapa in nearby Calabar and ask himself why that project, launched with dazzling fanfare, has failed to generate the kind of patronage then Cross River State Governor Donald Duke envisioned?

Just how many matches can be played in Akpabio’s “world-class” stadium every year to guarantee the place running without the government having to give it a crutch to stand? If 30, 000 people paid N1, 000 to watch matches in that stadium every weekend (assuming that is ever possible), will it buy the diesel for the many generators necessary to supply power and keep the place running?

His comparing the Nigerian sports industry to foreign one misses an important point: the cultural economy the Oyinbo have built around their sports industry is akin to religion in and of itself. Until you have a country where someone will travel from Mubi, Adamawa State to Uyo simply to watch his local team play, investing in huge sporting facilities in Nigeria is sheer waste of resources.

The trouble with the likes of Akpabio, really, is that they are afflicted with the Udoji syndrome – so much money, practically non-existent development ideas. In the 70s, when Nigeria suddenly found itself awash with money, then Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, was reported to have gleefully declared that they had no clue what to do with money. Part of their efforts at spending was to create the “Udoji award” and that era witnessed heightened profligacy that wrecked the economy. The irony is that we accumulate these historical experiences but we never seem to learn from them.

Today, Akwa Ibom is rich, perhaps richer than several African countries put together. The state has a relatively small population and as Akpabio admitted, a number of them are low-income earners. In such a context, it is unsurprising that his dreams are easily exhausted that he resorts to building monuments to vanity.

If Akwa Ibom has so much money, is it too much to save for the future? With the unpredictability of oil earnings, what happens if global prices of oil should crash as is the case now with Nigeria? How does the state survive? And if he has an aversion to savings, should he and his co-Niger Delta governors not begin to consider some kind of regional cooperation, and build regenerative infrastructure that will take advantage of geographical proximity? Collectively, their humongous earnings can be used to set up infrastructure that make for a conducive investing atmosphere. That way, there will be jobs for the people. With their income level raised, they will be able to afford the simple pleasures of life such as buying their movie tickets.

Culled from the Punch newspaper