February 20, (THEWILL) – A governorship aspirant in Akwa Ibom State, James Iniama, speaks with UDEME UTIP about his ambition to contest in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary in the state and what he plans to achieve if he eventually wins the governorship election in 2023. Excerpts:
How well do you know Akwa Ibom State? What are the areas in need of attention that you intend to give priority when you become governor of the state?
Akwa Ibom State was created in 1987. And we have grown to hear that “Rome was not built in a day” Don’t forget Uyo was a local government headquarters. I came to Uyo on 21st February, 1985. And I can say confidently that Uyo; though a local government headquarters, was still an Urban Village. Most of what we see in Uyo today were not there .So, if you take from the day Governor Tunde Ogbeha (the first Military Governor of the state) was received from Okpokom River boundary between Cross River and Akwa Ibom state, until today, when you come to Uyo , you are faced with the challenge of turning the urban village into a state capital suddenly. At one time, we had the University of Cross River State, now there is University of Uyo. Thank God, we had Cross River Television Station. Now we have Akwa Ibom Broadcasting Corporation ( AKBC). Also we had Champion Breweries, Plasto Crown, Auto Park and Qua Steel Company in Eket . Other companies in the state were: Quality Ceramics at Itu, Sunshine Batteries, Ikot Ekpene, Biscuit, Cement Factory, Asbestonit and Palm Oil Mill Industries in Abak Local Government Area. But these were only foundational industries that could help us to evolve. Since the administrative headquarter of the state has been settled with befitting edifices. Tunde Ogbeha, Godwin Abbe, Obong Akpan Isemin found themselves in that realm of development. And then came Obong Victor Attah. Attah said, come we need to have orderliness in the state through a Master Plan. Then he introduced a Master Plan that defined the nature of development in the state. That is the template of which I believe every administration in the state can ride on. But you see, if you talk of a Master Plan, it is dynamic .We have come to a point where that Master Plan of development of our dear state should be revised. Now, comes Governor Udom Emmanuel. Udom came and initiated the cluster industrial development. I thank God we are now going to have the Free Trade Zone , Deep Sea Port, etc. Obong Victor Attah started the airport; Governor Udom Emmanuel has brought Ibom Air. We are still at the development stage of our state.
Whenever it rains just step out to any local government area of this state and you will see that the immediate challenge facing us is flooding. We still need to develop the infrastructure of this state. So what are we going to do? We will address that immediate need through the preparation of an Auto Photo Map of the state. The map will simply tell us the exact layout of the entire state so as to ensure an integrated development plan. With the rate at which this state is growing, very soon we shall have a one-city state. Everything will be well planned and laid down in such a way that there would be no chaos when we commence to the development of the state. There is more to be done. So we must prepare to step into the shoes of our past leaders who have laid this foundation with commitment and patriotism to the people.
How would you improve on the unemployment status of the state?
Thank God, Governor Udom Emmanuel has come up with an industrialisation policy. I am worried about the sustenance of these industries. Why am I worried? A former governor of Cross River State, Dr Clement Isong, built nine Industries within four years of his tenure, but none of those companies is producing today. They are moribund. I can count them on the tips of my fingers. They are Quality Ceramics, Peacock Paints, Sunshine Batteries, Qua Steel and International Biscuit factory, etc. When Akwa Ibom State was created in 1987, one of the committees set up by the government was the Asset Committee, which was later changed to Committee for Reactivation of Ailing Industries in the state. We would privatise these companies to employ the teeming population of Akwa Ibom.
The Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources was penultimate Sunday endorsed by Governor Udom Emmanuel as his preferred successor in 2023. What is your reaction to this development, in view of your aspiration to become governor in 2023?
I have told you that I have been a private person all my life. As a young person, I sold groundnuts, palm oil and cigarettes during the Nigerian Civil War. I never saw a child who carries groundnut or banana and you told the child to call another groundnut seller for you. The child obviously wants to trade in her own wares. What I am saying is that, I am focused on my conviction, which is aspiring to be the governor of Akwa Ibom State. We are looking forward to the party primaries and the time when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will announce the timetable. For the time being, I am staying focused. I am deaf to destruction. I am pursuing the cause for which I have consulted members my family and they have wholeheartedly approved my ambition and declared support for it. I have consulted my friends, professional colleagues, political supporters, too. So I want to appeal that we stay focused and avoid distractions in the guise of endorsement.
I have my own agenda. Don’t tell me to leave my own game and join another person. So, let us stay focused on what James Iniama is riding toward 2023. I am preparing for the governorship primaries in Akwa Ibom, waiting for when INEC will announce the timetable and we should be guided by it. I believe we should be having consultations, which should be at a very quiet level and in line with the rules and regulations. I am staying focused on my own agenda. I am not pursuing any other person’s agenda in the name of endorsement.
What will you bring to the table that will meet the needs of the teeming Akwa Ibom people?
I have said that I am aspiring to serve the agenda of approximately 8 million people. That is my aspiration. Therefore, I bring to the table the issues that I know will satisfy their needs. If you ask me what is critical to my mind, I would say topmost in my mind today is education of the people. There is so much that is undone in our education sector. We want to build an Akwa Ibom State of educated sons and daughters, not a state for illiterate or half-educated people. We are looking at introducing the kind of education that would make our sons and daughters as competitive as possible. We are looking at 2023 .The world is moving and it is completely digitised. We have to look at improving the men and women who teach and impact knowledge to our children.
We will need quality teachers to teach our children, teachers who are specialised because there are schools where Physics graduates are teaching Mathematics without specialisation. We need to train our teachers. We used to have teachers whose main duty was to teach Hand and Craft where we learned how to weave baskets, make brooms, etc, but today such specialised teachers are no longer in our school system.
I am also looking at building infrastructure and creating a healthy learning environment in schools.
I am not talking of paying lip service to this state. I come from a village. Sometimes, I clean the primary school in my village. So we will improve the school infrastructure. When we talk, we are not resting our discussion on information. We would undertake a database of available infrastructure in our educational institutions. We call it in my profession ‘Inventory of the Asset.’ That will give us what we call the schedule of repairs and dilapidation.
Apart from education, we shall embark on agriculture to deal with insufficient food supply in the state. I am looking at planning a good policy on agriculture. We shall encourage subsistence farming so that every family will have enough food to eat. In 2007, when I contested the governorship of this state, we had enough documents that would have served as a blueprint for the implementation of agricultural programmes. Let us make agriculture commercial despite its challenges, such as access to land, lack of modern agricultural tools and lack of access to modern agricultural methods.
