The Imperatives Of Oil Boom And Accruals To Akwa Ibom; Effects and Way Forward with Arc Ekarika Itak Ekarika

Below is an extract of Tuesday, 13th August 2013 weekly tweet-convo of Project New Akwa Ibom - @ProjectNewAKS with emphasis on a ‪#‎NewAkwaIbom‬.
This week's topic was The Imperatives Of Oil Boom And Accruals To Akwa Ibom; Effects and Way Forward with particular focus on the following area as it affects the state and captured in the State's 2013 Appropriation Bill as signed into law by the Executive Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio;
1.) Industrial Development
2.) Core Infrastructure &
3.) Employment Generation.
The guest for the week was Arc. Ekarika Itak Ekarika @arc_ekarika

Details:
We want to focus on industrialisation, core infrastructure and employment generation in our analysis of Akwa Ibom State Government accruals and budget. On the side we must also see how we can get permanent revenue & development from a depleting resource like oil.
we must note that while 94% of our revenue is from statutory allocation, Lagos state for example gets just 45% from the Federal Government. So, we must think strategically. We must convert the funds to infrastructure and industry which are sustainable. DUBAI is an example.
Luckily the state Government has been sensitive to this and has devoted N38B to industrial development in 2013 compared to N185M only in 2012, but at the same time, industries cannot be initiated in a vacuum, which is why so much money was used to complete the Independent Power Plant.
The capital/recurrent expenditure ratio of the Government is commendable at 3:1.
The Governor also has invested heavily in a methanol factory to be located at Mbo which will generate directly & indirectly about 10,000 jobs. Also, plans are at advanced stage to install a 1 million ton per annum cement plant at Adadia in Uruan LGA.
The state budget; N459b for 2013 out of which 85b is slated for works/infrastructure development. This is commendable, but a key question we must ask ourselves is: If the oil runs out tomorrow, what do we fall back on? We must plan strategically.
The economy must move towards self sustenance. Dubai was only known for oil, but now they are known for real estate, tourism, hospitality, finance etc. Brazil has also successfully transformed itself from coffee exporter to an industrial power house, recently overtaking the British.
Therefore, the most crucial issue is not the accruals or budget, but a meticulous implementation of development initiatives stressing that once we have an industrial blueprint, it can be implemented in stages, featuring part by part in each budget.
He opined that government should initiate massive industrial estates in the 3 Senatorial areas pointing out that Aba/Onitsha should come to buy from Akwa Ibom not vice versa.
There is need to pressurise the Government to intensify efforts on Industrialisation as this is key to our future
We most note that the state government has succeeded greatly in core infrastructure, but employment generation must be accelerated to help youth even though the Finance Commissioner emphasised that the Inter Ministerial Direct Labour projects are for empowerment, which has been very successful.
An aspect of grave concern is that, some sections of the country are unhappy about the revenue allocation formula. So we need to make hay while the sun shines noting that the State Governor is really doing his best, but as citizens, it is our duty to keep pointing out to him where the shoe pinches.

Also, other contributors to the tweet-convo had this to add;
There's an urgent need to diversify the State economy. With the shift to renewable sources of energy, we would be at an advantage.
We need to explore alternative sources of generating revenue internally without relying solely on hand-outs from the FG. The multiplier effect would be rapid industrialisation, increased revenue & job creation inter-alia in the long-run.
While we look at the agricultural potentials of the State we must also consider the tourism potentials.

For more on the Tuesday tweet-convo, follow @ProjectNewAKS on twitter.

Add us on BB: 296D678C