Appraising Nsima Ekerenomics 1

BY ETOKOWO OWOH

A few months back and in Daily Sun,  I did an evaluation of the Akwa Ibom economy with a view to determining in space and time its positioning within a global context. It was obvious from that analysis that Akwa Ibom is yet not out of the woods. An indication to this effect was found in the fact that if we discount the civil service, there is hardly anything to cheer about our economic foundation. And that it has become necessary to connect our infrastructural renaissance to the pivot of the economy which is the human element. 

The aim, in all these, was (and still is) to lay a framework that would guide our next development direction post-2015. I also, in that piece, drew attention to the fact that economic development cannot be divorced from the nature and nurture of the leadership. That the exigent attitude and character of the governor which is usually not unconnected with inert traits, learned attributes (philosophically and professionally) and experience gathered over years (whether in the wilderness or in Canaan, or both). It also implies knowledge of the people’s development history viz-a-viz world economic order. I remember pointing out that our development context and content will experience change in magnitude and direction depending on the attitude and development character of the next governor.  

Please permit a brief digression to sound a note of advice: we should completely turn our eyes against voter manipulation by anybody, however attractive such offers. The manipulation of the electoral process through the use of money, and running away with electoral materials simply give a glimpse of what a government driven by such immoral instincts would do when in office. If someone deceives you to steal your votes, why won’t he deceive you to steal your money while in office?  We should be guided by reason and avoid the Esau syndrome and refrain from mortgaging our birth right.  Anybody who is always seeking what to eat now as against the future will accumulate too much excreta in his asset portfolio. Let reasoning prevail.  

Back to the main issue. As we draw close to the general election and at the gate to the primaries, it is necessary to reiterate these issues if we must give credence to the theory of primacy and recency; after all, it does no harm repeating important issues very often if only to let the import sink in. We must beam our searchlight on the offerings of our potential governors in order to take an introspective view of their content and how it would help  lift the prosperity of our people.  I must congratulate us because despite efforts to eclipse issues on the altar of zoning and other pecuniary considerations some of the aspirants have done very well in articulating sound redemptive socio-economic policies that are capable of taking us to the next development level. Of particular note is His Excellency, Obong Nsima Ekere, whose basket contains far-reaching offerings that will definitely change the economic landscape of the State.

Before we delve further on these issues, let me observe a pattern in Ekere since this campaign started. The consistency with which he has distanced himself from acts of mudslinging opponents, pouring tirades at people, creating ethnic tension and cleavages, or antagonizing even the present government has shown the level of maturity he is willing take into governance when, God willing, he receives the people’s mandate. Ekere has rather harped on the state of the economy and what could be done to further improve the material well-being of the people. He has refused to be distracted by forces of retrogression and is concentrating in selling his brand as a welfarist, a people’s economic philosopher and a moderate. Some have mistaken this for pacifism, forgetting that the surest way to win back friendship is to show love. He has proved, in more ways than one, that politics and refined words are not incompatible; they are not mutually antithetical.

Obong Ekere’s education policy is modeled after the 21st century. His main aim is to ensure the people of the State get the kind of education that will make the people global players and not local champions. Rather than struggle for the little resources oil has fetched, he intends to grow a critical mass of enlightened people who  would realize the value of production and technology as the raw materials for economic growth and development. He says:

This would involve of training and re-training of even the staff.

Apart from the provision of infrastructure, it would involve changing the curriculum and enriching it.  It also means developing the innate abilities, talents and endowments of Akwa Ibom people in diverse areas of sports, music, arts, craft, engineering and the  sorts. 

 It means financial literacy, entrepreneurship, capacity building, creative   thinking and innovation.”

To appreciate Ekere’s position on education, it is wise to note that the State is rated high in literacy figure, producing a barn of educated people but short of those with broad-based education that can engage in genuine critical thinking. This is particularly true when we are aware that national low IQ is abysmally low. Secondly, we have not enhanced the talents of our wards. How come that we suddenly lost the capacity to produce the likes of Udo Mariam, Vincent Enyeama, Samuel Peters, Lawrence Iquaibom, Lemmy Jackson, Christy Igbokwe, among others? Yet these talents are rotting away; and these are those that would earn foreign exchange for themselves, their families, the State, and the nation. Today they have become producers of political thugs, hired killers, and loafers. Our educational system has successfully buried these great minds, great skills and endowments.

To Ekere, we must re-think our educational content in such a way that engenders creativity and builds the inventive spirit; not merely the acquisition of certificates. We cannot be urging our wards to think self employment without even a passing knowledge of entrepreneurship and financial intelligence. Ekere’s aim is to re-jig our educational system to respond to the imperatives of the time. This cannot be done with the present skills of our teachers; thus the need for re-training. It cannot be done without tinkering with present curriculum; and it will involve innovation in infrastructural provision to accommodate the required tools and machineries, the type of schools that would transform raw talents to useable skills for financial gains. He need not say it, but I know it will represent a model and a benchmark for others to follow.

Etokowo Owoh is a Management Consultant, Researcher and Author.