Uyo — Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo commences an official visit Friday to Akwa Ibom State in South-South Nigeria with expectations of a permanent healing of the sour relationship that characterized relations between the federal government and the oil-rich state during Mr. Obasanjo's first term.
On the eve of the visit, aides to Governor Obong Victor Attah were speaking about the president in glowing terms. Attah last year led a popular campaign against the central government's decision to withhold most of the financial compensation due the State for oil exploration on the rationale that the production attributed to the State came from offshore oil wells.
""I don't want to pre-empt whatever a father would decide to give his children," said Mr. Ise Akpaso, chief press secretary to the governor. "The people of Akwa Ibom are very expectant and the President being a good father will do us well."
The bitterness felt by citizens of this state towards the President was eased in February when he assented to a bill abrogating the law barring the State from collecting a commission on oil sales accruing from the State's offshore fields. With the abrogation, Akwa Ibom again began to receive its full share of federal revenue, making way for the state to continue with projects suspended when the law took force.
The new amiable relationship is being credited here to the political acumen of Mr. Attah, a trained architect who is in his second term, after a re-election landslide in April 2003. Having reconstructed the ties between the two tiers of government, Mr. Attah and citizens of the State have been looking forward to Mr. Obasanjo's official visit with the expectation that it will have a positive impact on efforts to reconstruct the deteriorated infrastructure in the State.
"The President's visit will help to raise the hopes of the people who think that he is coming to announce some package for the State," said Mr. Nduesse Essien, a member of the House of Representatives, Nigeria's lower federal legislative body.
Obasanjo will travel by road into Akwa Ibom State on Friday after his presidential aircraft lands in Calabar, the coastal capital of neighbouring Cross River State. On Thursday, the highway was undergoing some hasty patching by federal and state government contractors to ease the ride for the presidential motorcade. The weather was not cooperative, however, as rain pouted down, washing away most of the surface sand being used to fill the numerous potholes along the way.
"We want to thank Mr. President for abrogating the Onshore/Offshore dichotomy in the application of revenue derivation, and we want him to appreciate the development challenges facing the State," said Barrister Ita Enang, another member of the House of Representatives. Expressing widely held disappointment over deterioration of federal infrastructure in the State, Mr. Enang, who represents Itu federal constituency, said he would like the President to show his concern for the State by ensuring that the Calabar-Itu highway is reconstructed. The highway, which was built during Mr. Obasanjo's term as military head-of-state twenty five years ago, is begging for a total facelift.
Mr. Enang said he hopes the President will to make a pronouncement on the future of some of the dilapidated industrial centers, which include the multi-million dollar Newsprint Company in Oku Iboku, off the Calabar-Itu highway.
That the President is unable to fly directly to Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital, underlines the absence of Federal Government infrastructure in the State, whose only airstrip is a facility constructed by ExxonMobil for its operations there.
While the federal legislators and state officials complain of neglect by the Federal Government, the State government has begun investing the fresh flow of funds arising from the abrogation of the revenue dichotomy law towards major improvements. During the presidential visit, the state will be showcasing a number of projects including a hotel, modern farms, and roads paid for with the funds released by the central government since last February.
By scheduling President Obasanjo to commission several of the projects during the visit, the governor's chief press secretary, Mr. Akpaso, says he is hoping that the Federal Government will recognize Mr. Attah's judicious use of resources and move to release the backlog of funds which are still held by the Federal Government.
"He will see what we have been able to do since the abrogation of the onshore/offshore dichotomy, and we would be hoping that the release of the backlog would help us to do even more," Mr. Akpaso said Thursday. At the same time, when asked for definite expectations from the presidential visit, Mr. Akpaso cautiously repeated that he would not want to pre-empt the president and foretell what he might decide to do for Akwa Ibom while he is here.
