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The Book of Industrialization [Chapter 1
from Dakkada Magazine III
by Nsikak John
The Book of Industralisation
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CHAPTER I
By imo-owo Mbede
nd in those days while he yet sought the votes of his people, Udom Emmanuel offered an industrialization agenda, given the vast human and natural resources in the land of Akwa Ibom which needed to be utilized to create wealth for the people. And the people called him, “Mr. Industrialization,” even unto this day.
And so, two years into the journey of industrialization – being a process and not a destination – this promise cometh to pass. Some industries have already taken-off silently, even as the ground has been prepared for a host of others. So let it be written in the book of industrialization that, as was promised, 1Peacock Paints Limited in Ikot Ekan, Etinan; 2Akwa Prime Poultry Hatchery Limited in Mbiaya, Uruan, and 3Akees Toothpick & Pencil Factory in Etinan have come alive in the land of Akwa Ibom, for he who promised is faithful. Let it also be known that 4St. Gabriel Coconut Refinery, the 5Syringe manufacturing factory, the 6Meter Manufacturing Company, 7Ibom Deepseaport and several others shall likewise be delivered unto the people, in the fullness of time.
1Many years ago, Akwa Ibom was well-known for the production of quality paint as arguably the biggest paint industry in Nigeria, Peacock Paints Limited, thrived in Ikot Ekan in Etinan Local Government Area. Sadly, as at the inception of the current administration in Akwa Ibom, the once famed Paint factory lay, not only moribund, but deeply indebted.
Within the first three months of his administration, ‘Mr. Industrialization’ approved the investment of about N526 million to ensure the reactivation of the ailing industry, to guarantee the exclusion of private equity share participation, and to clear the debts of the company amassing from interest on a N30 million loan secured many years earlier.
Today, this initiative to salvage the factory so as to restore the premium decorative, gloss and marine paint into the market, has seen the light of day. Employment opportunities have been created as manpower is made up predominantly of indigenes of the State though the Company has German investors as operational partners.
2Akwa Prime Poultry Hatchery Limited was established to provide day-old-chicks (DOCs) for poultry farmers in the East of the country and surrounding lands. These fragile birds hitherto had to be transported at exorbitant costs with the attendant risks of death, sickness and other exigencies from the Western part of the country. The Akwa Ibom State Government led by ‘Mr. Industrialization,’ inherited a project site designated for a hatchery facility at Mbiaya in Uruan Local Government Area and within a year, entered into an agreement with Prime Poultry, an investor from Ethiopia, for the take-off of the hatchery. This venture has proven to be a timely intervention measure in promoting cost-effective participation in the very lucrative poultry business as Akwa Prime Hatchery has provided employment to over 70 Akwa Ibomites while also creating wealth across board through an impressive value chain.
The feed mill requires raw materials including maize, soybean, bones and horns of animals, as well as shells. This incorporates maize and soybeans farmers, palm kernel processors, fishermen, abattoir workers, as well as carpenters amongst others while the breeder farm – constructed to alleviate the hatchery’s initial burden of buying eggs, hatching them before selling the day-old chicks – creates a ready market for wood shavings and saw dust.
Akwa Prime hatchery is still evolving and holds the promise of large-scale improvement in products and services, and invariably, further employment opportunities.
3Pencils and Toothpicks used all over the African continent are predominantly produced and imported from China. Nigeria and other African countries will look to experience a reprieve from the importation of these products as Akwa Ibom State’s industrialization voyage captained by Governor Udom Emmanuel has successfully berthed the first operational toothpick and pencils factory in Nigeria. Late in 2016, the Government procured and installed all the required machines and equipment to produce toothpick and pencils that will match or even better those produced in China, at the Akees Toothpick & Pencil Factory in Etinan. Less than a year later, the factory which is a wholly-owned by the state government, while still at test-run stage with 60 indigenous members of staff, is turning out about 25,000 pencils weekly.
With the endless demand for toothpick, bamboo (which is the major raw material) is widely available in the state, making this project a very viable and sustainable one. A similar scenario is obtainable with pencils; and together, these products will greatly boost the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state while Akwa Ibomites stand to gain from the 10,000 jobs opportunities which the factory will offer at full operation following the proposed incorporation of pen, match-box and sack-bag production factories.
4A 15-hectare coconut plantation is currently being cultivated in Mkpat Enin, Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo, as a prelude to the take off of St. Gabriel Coconut Refinery following the foundation laying ceremony earlier held.
5Over the last year while many foreign businesses folded up and left Nigeria, VKS Group, a Turkish construction firm stayed put. Through its subsidiary, Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, an edifice which will house the first Syringe Manufacturing Company in Sub-Saharan Africa is currently nearing completion in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. With worldwide daily usage of syringes and Nigeria alone reportedly consuming about 4 billion syringes annually, there is a huge demand in the country and continent. The factory which will enhance medical tourism and position Nigeria as the largest syringe manufacturing company in Africa, kickstarting at a production capacity of about 400 million syringes annually to dwarfing the 93 million syringes annual capacity of Africa’s only syringe manufacturing company which is in South Africa.
6Electricity holds the key to industrialization and the passion to make electricity readily available in the state shown by Governor Udom Emmanuel is the major motivation for the establishment of the Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services Limited (MSMSL) in Akwa Ibom State. MSMSL will proffer solutions to problems arising from electricity generation and distribution once it commences operations at the site where ongoing work is near completion.
7Ibom Deep Seaport & Industrial City is a pregnancy that will be carried to term. The magnitude of accruing benefits of this project accounts for the magnitude of time, physical and bureaucratic requirements for its execution. The Government of the day is totally devoted to this course.
Governor Udom Emmanuel’s determination to fulfill his campaign promises has seen apt and tangible development in all sectors of the Akwa Ibom state’s economy in the last two years. UdoM is worKing round-the-clock, managing an unfriendly economic climate to ensure that aKwa iboM is worKing
1 Several massive road construction projects are ongoing simultaneously all over the state
2 Construction of new and renovation of old facilities in schools across the state.
...expanding infrastructure
Akwa Ibom State’s infrastructural renaissance continues under the watch of Mr. Udom Emmanuel who is on an aggressive mission of expansion and consolidation across all sectors. In education, government has ensured a continuous supply of equipment and facilities like school desks, computer and laboratory equipment and reagents to public and private schools alike. Through the Inter-ministerial Direct labour project, new classroom and hostel blocks have been erected and old ones renovated in several schools across the 31 Local Government areas of the state.
“The importance and necessity of good roads and an efficient transportation system in the lives of the citizenry and the attraction of investors to the state cannot be overemphasized. To this end, my administration has embarked on massive construction and rehabilitation of roads and bridges, improvement of standard urban electricity supply….”
Gov. Udom Emmanuel
In light of the unfolding industrialization and economic boom in the state, land and air transport is receiving massive infrastructural makeover. Well over 715 kilometres of strategic roads and bridges have so far been constructed or are being constructed, not just to provide easy access for economic activities, but also to accommodate the impending traffic which will accrue therefrom. In the same vein, a second Taxiway is nearing completion at the Akwa Ibom International Airport at Okobo, as a run-up to the continuous ascent to its prospected World Class status.
1 Strategic inter-state roads like the 6.41km
Nto Edino-Ekwere Azu in Obot Akara, are being constructed.
2 Mega underground drainages have been completed in Uyo and Eket to curb long-standing menace of erosion.
3 A second Taxiway has been completed at the Akwa Ibom International Airport.
1
3
Akparawa Ephraim Inyang-eyen
Commissioner for Works
Healthcare is another sector that has been consolidated on by way of infrastructure expansion. One of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s first official assignments after his inauguration was an assessment tour of St Luke’s Hospital, Anua, and his observations set-off renewed drive for quality healthcare in Akwa Ibom. As a result, new and refurbished health facilities have sprouted up in various localities across the State while the welfare of healthcare providers has been given unprecedented attention due the essentiality of quality healthcare delivery.
3
Gov. Udom Emmanuel
1 The gully erosion at St. Luke’s Hospital
Anua received Government intervention.
2 New Dr. Ward Gynaecology Block built by the State government at St. Luke’s Hospital, Anua.
3 State-of-the-art facility procured by the State government in use at Ibom Specialist.
1 The previously neglected Eket-Ibeno road is now a 20km dual-carriage expressway.
2 Ekpoibe bridge in Onna is one of 17 being constructed across the state.
3 Oron township has received a massive facelift, particularly in road infrastructure.
2
Dr. Mike Ozovehe Ogirima,
President, Nigerian Medical Association
1 Ekom Iman-Etinan road under construction
2 A brand new Power Sub-station has been built in Uyo to boost power distribution.
Sustained power is the fulcrum of development. For a state with an industrialization agenda, power continues to be pursued, even more so after the acquisition of a license from the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for the generation of an additional 495 Megawatts of electricity. Several electricity intervention projects have ensued from the provision of over 600 new transformers to various rural communities across the state while a new sub-station has been completed to boost distribution.
Immense human potentials and recurrent sporting achievements have encouraged the prioritization of sports development. One of the ten sports facilities in the State have been completed and are in use to boost the numerous Sporting competitions at the grassroots while sport teams including the senior national football team, the Super Eagles, continue to enjoy massive support from the Government. The serene working environment at the new State Secretariat Annex has inspired productivity in public service in the State.
1 Ongoing construction at the Onna
Federal Constituency Sports facility at Ikot Mbong
2 The completed Sports Uyo Federal Constituency Sports facility at Itam
2
...ensuring food sufficiency
The return to agriculture as an economic spindle ripples across Nigeria and Akwa Ibom’s fertile landmass puts the state in the frontline of this ‘agro-revival’. Akwa Ibom is working to restore agriculture – not as an alternative, but as an economic mainstay – with programmes to ensure food sufficiency for the people and raw material availability to catalyze its industrialization agenda.
The expansion of Cocoa production, largely considered “an untapped oil-well” given its economic importance and market value, in the state is now specialized with the establishment of a Cocoa Maintenance Scheme to teach Cocoa farmers improved cultivation practices towards increased foreign exchange. This is essential because the specie of cocoa that flourishes in Akwa Ibom is of the sweet variety for chocolate production.
1 Tomatoes previously gotten from the northern part of the country is now cultivated in Akwa Ibom State.
2 Rice plantation at Ini Local
Government Area
3 Livestock cultivation, particularly poultry, has proliferated in the state 2
Gov. Udom Emmanuel
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1 Akwa Ibom remains the number one producer of Oil palm in the country due to the quantity and quality of OIl palm cultivation in the state 2 Emphasis is being laid on improved
Cassava cultivation all over the state due to its ample derivatives 3 Vegetables are also massively cultivated for widespread consumption
Government has instituted policies and various forms of financial support, collaborative programmes and incentives to boost the production of revenue earners like Oil palm, Cassava, Maize and Rice, as well as livestock, which is usually predominantly a private cultural engagement. Some of these include payment of its counterpart funding to access Federal Government’s FADAMA III additional financing, partnership with Ashdene Associates for Rice production, Interest-free loans to farmersand cooperatives, amongst others.
2 Made-in-Nigeria Pencils produced in
Akwa Ibom at the AKEES Pencil and
Toothpick factory, Etinan
3 Depots have been opened across the state to make Peacock Paints easily accessible to customers
...building industries
The level of Industrialization is a major determinant of economic growth. In striving for Akwa Ibom’s economic emancipation, Governor Udom Emmanuel has made industrialization the principal focus of his government. To this end, Akwa Ibom is Working assiduously towards this; directly, through the revitalization of dead and ailing industries and the establishment of new ones, and indirectly, by providing supporting infrastructure and manpower.
3
Gov. Udom Emmanuel
Dr. Ibe Kachikwu
Minister of State Petroleum Resources
2 Buckets of various kinds of paints produced at the revamped Peacock
Paints Ltd in Etinan
2
Peacock Paints limited was revived within the first year of the administration and is steadily increasing its production capacity while Akwa Prime Poultry Hatchery (the first hatchery in South-South and SouthEast Nigeria) is also up and running. A pencil and toothpick factory has also commenced production while Construction work is nearing completion on syringe manufacturing as well as electricity meter production plants.
Mr. Jose Javier
General Manager, Peacock Paints Ltd
2
A coconut refinery, an automobile assembling plant and a LED production factory amongst others, are in the pipeline, groundbreaking ceremonies having been performed for these projects. The establishment of an Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone which will complement the Ibom Deep seaport and Industrial city is also on the cards. Indeed these hold the promise of generational prosperity in the form of thousands of jobs as well as revenue for the state.
1 Ongoing construction work at the
Electric Meter manufacturing plant at Onna
2 Coconut plantation at the St
Gabriel Coconut refinery in
Mkpat Enin
Mr. Onur Kumral
Chairman, Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company
1 Youths at work at the AKEES pencil and toothpick factory
2 Youths at work at the AKEES pencil and toothpick factory
3 Training on improved oil palm cultivation toward better yield and revenue
...creating employment and wealth
Udom Emmanuel’s Government is not only ensuring the people have fish; it is also encouraging and teaching the people to fish. It encourages the people to look away from dependency and stagnancy, but look inward and draw from an abundance of aptitude and gifting towards self-reliance and excellence. It also empowers those who take this step.
2
Gov. Udom Emmanuel
The Akwa Ibom Employment and Enterprise Scheme (AKEES) and Dakkada initiative are self-help programmes instituted to boost technical and vocational skills acquisition, wealthcreation, as well as to expand the entrepreneurial landscape of the state, now and in the future. Akwa Ibom youths are today more productive and self-reliant, evident in increased indulgence in entrepreneurial ventures in a wide range of sectors, notably agriculture.
1 Intensive training for members of
Cooperatives societies on improved farm practices
2 A cross section of youths on their return from a power generation training
...building capacity
In line with “teaching the people to fish” and boosting their productivity and employability, Udom Emmanuel’s government acknowledges the need for human capacity development, especially for youth. Various professional as well as vocational training programmes and certification courses have been facilitated within and outside the State. All these in a bid to ensure that there will be willing and qualified manpower to competently fill in at all skill levels, as an industrialized Akwa Ibom looms.
At the very basic primary and secondary levels, education is free and compulsory as Government off-sets the tuition of every child (whether indigene or not) resident in Akwa Ibom, while it goes a step further to pay the Senior Secondary Examination fees in secondary and technical Schools.
Over 10,000 youths from across the state have benefitted from a variety of training courses within and outside the country. Some of these include Oracle Database Management, Computer Programming and Power generation and Maintenance in Abuja. 31 of the selected 100 were trained in Mechanized Agriculture in Israel, while 450 are currently being trained under the Cocoa Maintenance Scheme. These are just a few. 272 nurses and midwives undertook the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Programme (MCPDP) training while Government ensured the accreditation of Hospitals for the training of over 48 House officers, with more on the way.
Gov. Udom Emmanuel
Govt. Pri. Sch. Akpa Utong Ibesikpo Asutan LGA
INTER MINISTERIAL UPDATE
BEFORE
AFTER Inter Ministerial Direct Labour Projects are to raise the standard of living of the rural dwellers through the upgrading of existing infrastructure and provision of new ones in the areas of education, healthcare, water supply, electric power and even rosds across the state.
In the last two years, the Udom administration in Akwa Ibom state has embarked on 250 such interministerial Projects - completed and ongoing.
Community Secondary School Ikot Ukana - Essien Udim LGA
Primary School Ikot Udu, Ndiya, Ikono LGA
St. Patrick Government. Primary School. Mbukpo Eyo Akan, Urue Offong LGA
Electrification, Awa, Onna LGA
Primary School Asong Mkpat Enin LGA
Solar Power Borehole, Ikot Oku Nsit Electrification, Ekeya Utine Uduohgo, Okobo LGA
