One problem that confronted Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio when he took over the mantle of leadership in Akwa Ibom State on 29th May, 2007 was that of high expectations. He was aware and willing to confront those challenges and promised to open up the state's potential.

In order to achieve this, he developed an infrastructural blueprint with a very good idea of what development is. So far he has not failed the people. Give me a platform, and I will shake the world, is a saying of the sages. No doubt, Akpabio has shaken the world with his administration's impact on the State in terms of first class infrastructural development. His exertion in a positive direction has guaranteed this commitment and performance hence this phrase: "Eyak Isat Ke Isong, Akwa Ibom Ado Ok" (Let us be grounded with our ability, Akwa Ibom is blest). It is simply saying that the government has fashioned out development path for the people with the requisite visionary content that will drive the people towards its development goals.

Observers pinpoint another unique attribute of Akpabio to say that he has not arrogantly or naively assumed that he knows the people. He always seeks to know them and how best he can serve them. Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus. It is simply a way of saying that Akpabio is more a man of conviction than a man of conformity.

As a farsighted governor with the overwhelming interest of the populace in his heart, he is fully aware that Akwa Ibom is the destination of tourists and investors and envisages influx of both human and vehicular traffic into the pacific oasis of the South-South at no distant future. Hence he went ahead to construct a flyover to ease the anticipating boom. No wonder the future belongs to those who see the possibilities of tomorrow today even before they become obvious.

Recently, the governor was quoted as saying: "The people of the State have a lot to celebrate as I'm focused on delivering the dividends of democracy." True to his statement, Akpabio has dried the tears of Nigerians when on 23rd September, 2009, Arik Air's Boeing 748-800 series with registration number 5N-MJO flew from Abuja and touched down on the soil of Akwa Ibom State at 2.14pm with 50 passengers on board made up of dignitaries from the aviation industry and members of the National Assembly that made history in the State. It was a promise kept. It was a jubilant moment, and another victory in the titanic struggle. This single achievement would provide the awakening the State needs to begin its industrialisation and make it a destination.

The airport according to a reliable source cost $300 million and was conceived in 2001, but was literally comatose after conception as nothing significant was done until 2007 when the State government pursued the project with renewed vigour and realised the dream within 2 years span.

On the timely completion of the airport project, the commissioner for Information and Social Re-orientation of the State, Aniekan Umanah has this to say: "The actualisation of the airport in such a short time was a demonstration of 'can do spirit' of the present administration of the State." It is a significant breakthrough that will change lives; create employment directly and indirectly to the people beside other benefits. This is the real dividend of democracy people have been yearning for and he has proved skeptics wrong thereby demonstration that in Gilead, there is a balm to make the wounded whole.

The Akwa Ibom International Airport has modern maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, the first of its kind in West Africa sub-region. When the project is fully completed in the first quarter of this year, it will greatly help the aviation sector in Nigeria and bring a lot of foreign exchange to the country. The viability of the airport is not in doubt. As the governor said, "I have taken cognizance of all those things that led to the failure of those airports. The Akwa Ibom airport was carefully planned; the strategy is such that it can never fail and that's why we came up, not just with overhaul and maintenance facility idea. We believe strongly that Akwa Ibom international airport will be a major hub for the Gulf of Guinea. The way we have started it is that you don't need anything like expansion when it goes into operation. It can land an Airbus 380 plane and there are not many of such runways in Nigeria where A380 can land without expansion. So we are building a modern airport and we are hoping that with the cooperation of the regulatory authority and airport users the project will succeed."

The crux of the airport is on maintenance, training and retraining of aircraft personnel and targeted to service all oil-producing countries in the Gulf of Guinea in addition to operating as international aerodrome.

This grand project is a bold one that stands forever to bury the notion of Akwa Ibom as a pedestrian State. If his predecessors had shied away from the job, this governor says he is determined to fix it once and for all, no matter whose ox is gored! This is surely the mark of a man inclined to service the electorate and his fatherland.

Besides his reservoir of knowledge and rich curriculum vitae, Akpabio has gone about his duty in a decidedly resourceful manner and has significantly improved the infrastructural state of Akwa Ibom.

Peter Udiong is a journalist in Lagos.