Come and invest in Akwa Ibom – Commissioner

Mr. Ini Ememobong is the Akwa State Commissioner for Information and Strategy. He answered questions during his recent courtesy visit to Media Trust, publishers of Daily Trust titles, in Abuja.

What is your mission to Media Trust?

Daily Trust is a critical medium in our country, and I appreciate the fact that even its leadership structure is involved in restructuring; which is what we’ve been clamouring for in Nigeria, because we cannot keep doing the same things and expect different results. We are going to say yes to fresh ideas and more commitment.

I was inaugurated as Commissioner for Information on August 3, 2020, and immediately I had reasons to come to Abuja. I said the first place I must come to is Daily Trust.

If we believe in Nigeria, we must develop Nigerian brands and support them. We must not segment businesses because they are corporate entities that must be able to sell global purposes, and for you at Daily Trust, you must continue to sell national purposes; so that’s why I decided to pay this visit, and also to appreciate your past support and to ask for greater collaboration and cooperation with the Akwa Ibom State Government.

How would you describe happenings in Akwa Ibom today?

His Excellency, Governor Udom Emmanuel, has a complex agenda which he has narrowed down to critical areas, and we intend that at the end of his tenure he would be judged by these indices.

You are seeing the newest aircraft of Ibom Air, in addition to the existing fleet. The fleet is increasing by the day because we have a target and we are working consciously to achieve that. Akwa Ibom is the only state in the entire African continent that owns an aviation line, Ibom Air. The airline is not just servicing Akwa Ibom, it is the most reliable means of travelling between Lagos and Abuja. Why this is happening is that his Excellency has a key focus.

The opening of gateways into Akwa Ibom is because the state is a destination. To this end we are still waving out our hands of friendship to people to come and invest in Akwa Ibom as it remains the land of promise. His Excellency is trying his best to build that destination.

We are investing a lot in road infrastructure. We are pushing the sea inwards; which is the Ibom Big Sea Port. We are hoping to make Akwa Ibom a hope for Nigerians.

We hope that in greater partnership and cooperation with Daily Trust, the world will know that Gov. Udom Emmanuel is building not an Akwa Ibom for Akwa Ibomers, but an Akwa Ibom for all.

Therefore, we are inviting everyone to come and work and invest in Akwa Ibom. In this regard, all Nigerians are invited to take residence and invest in Akwa Ibom. This investment drive has a critical component of publicity, and the media, a big player, like Daily Trust, cannot be ignored, that’s why I am here to salute the effort you are making.

The philosophies of land acquisition and investment in Akwa Ibom have been made very easy by His Excellency, so you should help us propagate the message of Akwa Ibom as a destination for investment. You will discover we are the second destination of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country.

Akwa Ibom is a safe place for relaxation as we have facilities and we are accommodating to all Nigerians. So that is the message I have come to deliver as the head of the information management team of the state, and to appeal to you for better collaboration and partnership to market the accomplishments of the present governor.

You have dwelt on the aviation sector, what about other sectors?

His Excellency’s focus is not only in aviation development. Other areas are infrastructure, security, riverine areas development, agriculture, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) development, human capacity development and industrialisation.

Absolutely, you can link all these with good road transportation facilities; which is critical, especially to aid the transportation of raw materials from point of production to point of use, hence there is road network from Oyo all the way to the East, West and North.

What about the recent move by BUA to establish a refinery in Akwa Ibom?

BUA’s refinery project is part of the effort of His Excellency in opening up the state. Companies operate where the environment allows them to operate, and Akwa Ibom has provided an enabling environment for investment.

Interestingly, recently President Buhari donated an ambulance to the state to complement the state government’s effort in the fight against COVID-19 because we have been hospitable to all.

One of the first things the governor did was to create a democratic system for market investment. We now have a committee on investment.

Akwa Ibom was recently reported to be high on the unemployment list, how true is this?

We questioned that statistics because it is not in line with reality, and we are asking a simple question, what population size did the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) use? Because I and you know that the last “controversial” population census was 2006. And till today we keep using projected population figures, and for you to extrapolate an unemployment figure you must have statistics for development.

Therefore, NBS must be able to explain to us in a way we understand how it obtained its data and how the analysis went through, because even during the lockdown you had companies coming; now BUA is here, Ibom Air is here, so we do not have a correlation between reality and that statistics. We are not antagonising it. We are simply asking for explanation so that we can be on the same page.