Why was Akwa Ibom created in the first place?
Exactly 33 years ago, Akwa Ibom State was created. But there appears to be seemingly growing concerns as to why the state which is christened after God was created. These concerns which many Akwa Ibomites have carried through, beginning from the inception of the state up until now, may have been the greatest worry that mere attention without sincere answer can solve.
When the first administration began in the state in 1987, hopes were sky high that perhaps what looks like an aged-long concerns of why the state was created would be firmly addressed. But like a diminishing smoke into the air, all hopes were gone without any attempt to unravel the real creative essence of the state- Akwa Ibom State.
Next was another administration which snowballed in, with expectations as myriads as any conceivable mind can grasp. Akwa Ibomites quickly had their hopes rekindled, apparently given the way it all began. But sadly, that government dusted its buttock and staged out of the theatre of governance without answering the question as to why the state came to be.
More and more administrations evolved with the dictate of democracy and the state growing in lips and in bounds, but the creation story was there dangling on the balance, unanswered and unattended to.
In 2015 when Governor Udom Emmanuel came on stream, many had become too expectant like a pregnant woman, apparently due to the versatility of the governor in matters of financial management and a right sense of leadership needed for a state many believe is after God’s own heart. Luckily, the over 20 years question of why the state came to be resonated, this time, so loud like a cacophony.
Going by what Governor Udom Emmanuel has put on ground as dividends of governance, many people are beginning to see why the state was created.
This realization is obviously is because a state is created to bring development closer to its inhabitants. It is created not just to exist as a federated component of the centre, but to have direct bearings on the livelihood of the people who are fortunate to emanate from such creation.
Governor Udom Emmanuel has indeed rested the question. The level of infrastructural renaissance in the state is why Akwa Ibom State was birthed. He has unveiled the truism in the state creation and further crystallized the dashed hopes that the state was created for reasons absolutely zero. Mr. Udom has, in fact, exhumed another yearning for more creation of states for other areas that may be in the clamour for a new lease of life.
