By Idongesit Ashameri
Uyo
“We will transform the economy of our state via industrialisation and sustainable public-private sector initiative, thereby opening up opportunities for growth and improved living standards. We will use ICTs to promote entrepreneurship among Akwa Ibom youths to help drive unemployment and engender wealth creation.”
These were some of the pledges the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel made immediately he assumed duty in state.
But this was not the first time Akwa Ibomites would be promised an ICT revolution. The administration of Victor Attah between 1999 and 2007 equally promised an ICT revolution and even began the construction of an Ibom Science and Technology Park.
The contract awarded to SBT Juul, South Africa and other sub-contracting firms in 2004 was said to have been N90 per cent mobilised for and slightly below N40 percent completed. The Park was to play a vital role in elevating Akwa Ibom’s economy and society.
Unfortunately, the Ibom Science and Technology Park remains a dream. The notion that government is a continuum also did not turn out in favour of this project that was considered the second science park in all of Africa.
The immediate past administration of Godswill Akpabio did not do much in actualising the project. Except for the investigation committees, chorus reports of 90percent payment and less than 40percent completion, no action, with the view to redeeming state’s huge investment to give the lofty project a direction was taken.
So when Governor Emmanuel again promised to transform the economy of the state through industrialisation and use of ICT to promote entrepreneurship, he only reminded Akwa Ibomites of the aborted dream of Akwa Ibom becoming an ICT hub.
Ibom Science and Technology Park
The park was planned and initiated to turn many youths from job seekers to job creators, from social dependence to self sufficiency.
Located along Afaha Oku on the way to Uyo capital city from Calabar, the Science and Technology Park was proposed with a computer training component and facilities for incubating new ideas, new industries; and software development. It was indeed built thoroughly with an up-to-date technology to raise the calibre of manpower for the immediate and long-term needs of the state economy.
The park conceived to have a Science and Technology University, later transformed to the Akwa Ibom State University by the Akpabio administration. According to its original plan, the university was to have five science and engineering schools.
In fact, former Governor Attah had then said, “I know how much money the oil companies are paying for seismic data from outside. So if I set up a University paying full salaries so that we have a Research department that can handle all of those things, look at all that money that will stay inside the country.”
ICT Prospects
Conscious of an ongoing Science and Technology park, Akwa Ibom was then selected to lead all of Africa in cellular telephone technology. A memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in late March 2006 established a joint venture between Akwa Ibom Science Park and two Chinese companies—one a subsidiary of an American company, Technoconcepts—to manufacture and market cellular telephones throughout Africa. Each partner in the joint venture owned one-third share.
The company was to manufacture in the Ibom Science Park telephones programmed to perform functions already present on cellular telephones used in Asia but not yet available in the U.S. such as bill payment and money transfers.
The telephones expected from the company were also to be fitted with technology being developed by Technoconcepts, which would make it possible for the devices to function on any network in the world, and communicate with many other devices using digital radio frequencies.
The bold steps into creating a state-of- the-art Information Technology Park in Akwa Ibom further enabled the state to be admitted as a member of the International Association of Science Parks owners. Through this connection, and with the aid of the existing IT programme, a group of students were chosen and sent abroad on government scholarships.
In 2004, the graduates flew out to Canada for 18 months IT training sponsored by the state government. They were to come back with the knowledge and the know-how to pass on to other students and people in the state. By this, standards were being set for students to be exposed to the best facilities in this aspect of engineering.
Aborted Dreams?
After 18 months of intensive training in Canada, most of the students returned to Akwa Ibom but met no Science Park to engage such knowledge and experiences. Due to frustration, most of them flew back to Canada and other technologically advanced countries to practise.
However, Akpabio had while in office said that “two things are wrong with the project. The first one is the location; no matter the building you put there, such a building is threatened by erosion. It will cost you more to arrest this factor than the cost of the project itself.
“The second issue is that the project is prone to the probing of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because the total cost of that project was N5.6 billion and the last administration (Attah administration) paid N5.3 billion upfront. And the work done is not up to N400 million. If a project is N5.6 billion and the government paid N5.3billion upfront, you would expect the contractor to move the project to a reasonable level. With N5.6 billion project and N5.3 billion paid up front, I don’t think I should touch that project. You will not advice me to touch that project unless the contractor can give account of how he utilised the N5.3 billion he collected from the Akwa Ibom State Government, and why work done on ground is not up to N300 million.”
Some stakeholders however disagree and said that a project of such importance should not have been abandoned.
Engr Esiere Ufot wondered why former Governor Akpabio who was a commissioner in the Atta administration that initiated the project dumped it.
He said; “It is unbelievable that former Governor Akpabio who was a Commissioner in the administration that conceived and initiated the science park could paralyse such dream. He was a member of that EXCO and can never feign ignorance of consequences of such waste. Apart from the funds committed on the materials, imagine the brain drain! Now those graduates trained by the state government are developing other parts of the world.
“I witnessed that project from inception, redeeming such a terribly topography for technological advancement was superb. You can imagine how much finances, manpower and ingenuity must have been committed to it. Whoever abandoned such dream in a state like ours either lacks insight of its value or love for the state and her people?
“Who are we deceiving here, the immediate past administration admitted to have expended over N100billion on a project they could not deliver beyond a functional cinema house and a pop corn bar, yet, no one is talking about EFCC, but just N5.3billion on a project of this magnitude evoked so much integrity from them?
“If that administration was so sincere, why didn’t they bring the culprits to justice, who was behind the contract, why were they unable to deliver, despite so much mobilization? This promising but aborted venture was expected to begin preliminary operations in 2006 and was scheduled to expand over a six- month period to include more sophisticated operations as the plant comes on stream and workers are trained.
Experts have expressed the view that the project would have greatly boosted ICT development in Akwa Ibom State. They argued that the abandonment of the Science and Technology Park constituted a serious deprivation to generations yet to come.
They suggest that since the present administration of Governor Emmanuel has indicated interest in an ICT-driven government, efforts should be made to revive the park.
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