Dr. Godwin Ntukudeh is the chairman of Akwa Ibom State Road and Other Infrastructure Maintenance Agency (AKROIMA); the agency which has brought succour to road users in the state.
Ntukudeh, a grassroots politician and former commissioner for transport in the state, speaks on the activities of his agency, 2023 politics, the state of the Niger Delta and other trending issues in this interview. Excerpts:
How would you describe your reappointment, which this time around is more like a sole administrator, and could it be a result of the confidence the governor reposes in you?
I think you have said it all. I knew the governor as one man ready to work with anybody who will positively contribute to the realization of projects before the expiration of his tenure. I consider myself privileged to be found worthy to come back and be part of the completion agenda in that sector. If our first outing were not excellent, service-based, I am sure that I won’t be here, especially given the circumstances of the time in which cash crunch and the corona virus pandemic featured prominently.
The governor is one man who is ready to work with those ready to squeeze water out of stone. I am happy to look back and see that God has led me well and the fact that I was able to perform to the attention and notice of the governor. There is nothing spectacular about me, therefore, the glory goes to God Almighty, the unseen force to excel and be recognized. It is incumbent on me to continuously trust that God, especially now that I am in a more competitive ground; that if I don’t disappoint God, He will not disappoint me.
How are you coping with the paucity of funds and the heavy rains in tackling your mandate to fix failed portions of roads?
This time requires men who can squeeze water out of rock. The governor is after results, not excuses. You don’t go to him with stories, and it behooves me to devise means of getting the results. I know the God I serve and He will extremely overdo beyond what we comprehend. The divine ideas are coming and we will harness men and materials to achieve results. Both rainy and dry seasons are known to God. What we are doing is to engage those who know better in civil engineering business, those who are well schooled and trained in the profession and we are ready to further help them get more training via workshops and seminars to broaden their knowledge. We will also reach out to the sister ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to join in the knowledge-driven workshops to add value and give our engineers the best training. As you can see, we are already seeing results with our performance: like the job done along Edet Akpan Avenue, opposite the PHEDC office; the Abak Road by Mechanic Village and up to the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital; Ukanafun Street and all within the rainy season. We have also taken a one and a half kilometres road project in which we used sharp sand instead of laterite which is a technology deviation due to the season and after the sharp sand we deployed the stone-base because we know the traffic pressure along the Udoette Road will be sustained by the thickness of the stone-base.
The binding course was considered before the wearing course which was the asphalt. The people are very happy but they don’t know we are not yet done with it. We are allowing it to be further exposed to rain drops and the traffic that will pass to see what happens before returning to put another wearing course and at that level we can say we have done a perfect job. Just recently, we wanted to give access to a ceremony at Etinan and we engaged in two kilometres of grading with a base of 90 per cent stones and 10 per cent dust in response to the season and the event. The season cannot be a hindrance because time is of essence.
In view of the challenges you have enumerated, where are you in terms of your projection for the year?
The projection is to align ourselves with the governor’s avowed decisions to ensure zero potholes in the state. It is a tall dream and appears unrealisable but we must every day attack the threatening evidence of potholes across the state. The governor detests road constructions that were endemic with inefficient supervision and unpatriotic acts of constructors who short-changed the state with inadequate materials. To that extent, it is inevitable to know that those poorly constructed roads will keep bringing forth potholes and it is our responsibility to pursue and the season should not be a threat to us if we must help in the completion agenda.
We must pursue cardinal programme of zero potholes by being available on the road steadily. The governor monitors every situation on our roads and most times draws our attention to go to some of the failed portions of the road. He is one governor who is awake to his responsibilities; he is on the street always and a street man like us. He has a mission to monitor what we are doing and when he calls at times, we will tell him that we already have plans to tackle the problem. Most times the jobs are billed to be done at night to avoid unnecessary traffic jam, especially on some trunk roads and secondly, the availability of asphalt which must come in at least 90 times of three trucks to cater for our job, it is difficult for the manufacturing company to give just one truck except they are on mass production order.
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Our other challenge is not having a burner on phantom 5000 to continually keep our asphalt in the temperature of 80 degrees celcius; anything outside it will be waste of asphalt. However, by next week most of the potholes will be taken out across the major streets in the state even though we have done well at Edet Akpan Avenue, Baptist Road, Abak Road and Ukanafun Road all within the Uyo Capital City.
Okobo – Oron Road is one of your landmark projects and which other local government will benefit from your projections?
We have plans to go to Ikot Ekpene. There is a big pothole at the Ring diversion to Essien Udim and the Umuahia Road is also calling for attention. We will also head to Enen Nsit. That is one road we will continuously go to because the contractor was not patriotic in constructing it. There are no side drains or any catch-pot provision where there are depressions to help exit flood. So most times, the water returns to the road and you know the war between water and asphalt. Because of that, each time we finish fixing remarkable parts of Enen Nsit, other parts will come up. It needs constant maintenance till such a time government will have enough funds to give it another wearing course thickness to have a sustainable road that we can use.
Recall that the potholes that usually emerged at Dominic Utuk Avenue and Aka-Itiam Road have been stopped after our massive maintenance-minded approach. I wish many contractors borrow the patriotic spirit we have and minimize their profit demand. There should be a percentage mark people should not exceed. But a lot of people go beyond that as capitalists, maximizing profit at the detriment of patriotism, service and brand name, not minding that our names should speak for our jobs tomorrow. But people prefer lobbying and bribery as the catalyst for future patronage and not performance. If it is performance, a lot of people won’t be considered after a little trial job offered them.
The drumbeat for 2023 is in earnest with the formation of the Maintain Peace Movement by loyalists. What is your take?
That is political. I don’t know mega political issues when our boss had earlier advised that all our attention should be geared towards ensuring the success of his completion agenda projects. Their politics will be discussed appropriately when the time is right but I must say that whatever happens in the state we are all involved in the spirit because it is one state and we are all tied to its existence. To that extent, the group is a positive one preaching peace, we must patronize it. Peace is development, progress, harmonious existence and health because you can only sleep well when there is peace. The movement has been inaugurated to evoke the consciousness of you having peace. I can’t wait to call on everybody to join the bandwagon. In the absence of peace, we have bandits, Boko Haram insurgence, kidnappers and the likes, including rapists, vandals, occultists and cultists; all of them will thrive and the society will be in chaos with freedom and movement limited.
The VIPs in Akwa Ibom State don’t even need police escorts anymore because there is peace. The programme is a wake-up call for people to know the essence of peace. Peace is development, industrialization and the essence of living. It is the platform for brotherly love, cordiality and harmony. Peace takes you on holiday and visits to tourist sites. If the peace is under this context, we must join and ensure the success of the Maintain Peace Movement (PMM) and be conscious about the message. We must put peace ahead before taking any decision. Akwa Ibom will be available for development, industrialization and peaceful co-existence when we consider peace as paramount and will also be a paradise for all of us to live. Tourists will also visit and boost our economy. Agriculture will boom and there will be food sufficiency. Please everyone should join the bandwagon.
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Do you see the completion agenda being realized with the present state of the nation’s economy?
I believe that when there is a will, there is a way. What is important is the passion to succeed. Our governor desires that the people should have a better tomorrow, detests our present position and does not want to leave us the way he met us but eager to set a standard that tomorrow’s leaders must strive to surpass and not going below.
Having spread infrastructural and other programmes across the 31 local government areas which is unprecedented, the first time we have a governor who does not, because of his problem with one man or the other, deny the entire community developmental projects. He does not engage groups or individuals blackmailing him. He does not engage in retaliation but hands such people over to God.
There are many ongoing projects but the governor has restricted his attention to some vital ones that are very necessary for transformation and will augur well for the larger interest of the people. Every reasonable Nigerian knows the multiplier effect of N510 to nine dollars that we now have from N168 and N204 we came from. It is N510 to one dollar today and if you had awarded a job for N10 million three years ago, that 10 million is three times the amount today for the same job, while money coming to the state from the Federation Account is dividing. So you don’t blame the government if you see projects being downsized because while foreign exchange increases, funds coming into the state coffers keep reducing. The speed at which projects could have been achieved is reducing because the funds are drying up while the foreign exchange increases daily. Depreciation is happening over there but the dollar keeps increasing to naira. The governor is also looking for alternatives of realizing his goals and he is conscious of the implication of taking loans, so he applies other methodology to raise funds to fund projects and as time goes on, most of the key projects are reviewed for them to be actualized. The ones that will not be completed call for having a successor necessary for continuity. If we have a functional succession, then the person coming will be part of the completion agenda and will carry on from where the governor will stop in 2023; inheriting both assets and liabilities.
What are the things this administration will be remembered for in the post-2023 era?
Space will not allow for the exploration of the question you’ve asked. First is peace. There was a time we had no pace but Governor Emmanuel has restored peace to the land. Now there is a positive change and peace is here with us. With peace you can fend for yourself and arrange your life to suit what you want. There is food sufficiency via agriculture. We have seen how staple food items have been crashed in the market with their massive production. Notwithstanding inflation, the state is doing well in food production and availability to the people. There are availability of fertilizers and improved seedlings of every crop to farmers.
Coconut is in massive production and will add value to the state. The FADAMA III is also working here with all-year planting season of crops for food sufficiency. In Akwa Ibom, people have had access to grants from the Central Bank of Nigeria and other funds and also non-interest loans to invest in agriculture to gather their lives and Governor Emmanuel will be remembered for it. Akwa Ibom youths are readily empowered to tackle the challenges of tomorrow via skills acquisition in various trades ranging from engineering (electrical and mechanical), agriculture, hairdressing, fashion design, shoe making and others to use their hands and fend for themselves and not just looking for white-collar jobs. Enterprise is the new direction like we have in Aba, Onitsha. Those who are trained are encouraged with starter packs to start off a better life.
The administration has initiated massive industrialization in the state, which is the key to development and not the civil service. The best place to earn a living is not the civil service because minimum wage is nothing to write home about. Industrialization will not only provide people with job opportunities but also teach them how to embark on production of the same product. Industry provides more opportunities for those who engage in them. Governor Emmanuel has become the champion of industrialization. Though some people say they are small industries but I must tell you that great things start small and don’t be unmindful of small beginnings. Until you start small, you cannot grow big. People should take a lesson from the mustard seed. My company, Unique Furniture, started very small and I was challenged to grow it to the level it is today.
The Ibom Airline is a big challenge to the world; it started small from the 900 series, not with the Airbus. Today, we have the 200 series and that is progressive, because Governor Emmanuel is an investment economist and banker. He made Ibom Air a brand and it is today the country’s image and pride of Akwa Ibom State. When you talk of inter-relationship in the state, the governor has wielded the various ethnic groups’ together and ensured inclusion of everybody in key positions and in the leadership of the state. There is harmony and terrible reduction in restiveness even among youths. The governor has elevated the name of God and God has taken over the affairs of Akwa Ibom. God is the ultimate strength of the Akwa Ibom people and that is why this administration built a worship centre for God. There is a holy ground today in Akwa Ibom, not only in Israel and Mecca, and when need arises, our people can go to the worship centre to seek God’s face and, if need be, make atonements. The governor has done well to recognize traditional rulers and given them a pride of place in his administration. He has built and furnished not just reputable offices but a wonderful palace for them. He has built the longest flyover and dual carriage ways in the state. It shows the content value of the initiator of the project. Notwithstanding finances and the pandemic, he has done creditably. He was able to foresee, as a leader, what may befall the nation and used his visit to America then to acquire over 42 containers filled with medical equipment to change the laboratories and hospital wards across the state. Today, he has obtained the final license to commence the construction of Ibom Deep Seaport.
The trending matter is the Petroleum Industry Act in which mere three per cent is given to oil-bearing communities by the Senate. What is your take on this issue?
I will advise that we unite on this cause. God should give the people of Niger Delta the spirit of unity to navigate this challenge. Politicians forget that ingratitude is a sin; and they destroy the ladder that takes them up, forgetting that they need it to climb down safely. Ingratitude has made Nigerian leaders to forget the reason Abuja developed overnight and that northern states are all dependent on the natural resources of the emasculated people of Niger Delta. The three per cent is dead on arrival and it is sad that after billions of money from Niger Delta have been wasted in search of oil in the Chad Basin without success, and still bettering the lives of the people in the area in the name of looking for oil to ensure that they will look for succession once found. Such will never be found. If the President signs such a law, it will trigger temporary unity in the South-South and they will make a major statement to Nigeria.
At this time if there is call for you to serve at a higher capacity, will you respond?
For every living soul who believes in the efficacy of God, you will know that we are created for a purpose and will continually search for the purpose of our creation. That is why God said I know the thoughts I have about you, thoughts of good and not evil and to take you to the desired destination. Thus it is incumbent upon everyone to allow God use them to achieve and to be of service to one another. We are here to better the existence of one another using whatever position God has placed us. We must emphasize service to humanity and every Christian must be available to the call to service. Also, when called, we must be accountable to he that called us to service by rendering conscience- based services.
Leadership is a spiritual stool which has both divine and evil competing. Thus one needs to be guided with what power they need (to be guided) to occupy the stool with. I will like to occupy every stool and table of responsibility from the standpoint of God and God alone. Everybody who did well in history was called, identified or selected by the people and David was an example as well as the story of Daniel. Therefore, I am available as God knows why I was created from here and not from somewhere else. When I look back at my life I will say there is something about me. Otherwise I would not have done the exemplary exploits in Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, and other organizations I have occupied leadership positions. I think if positions and offices are considered from voice track records, then I will say that I uniquely stand out.
