Odita Sunday 
ONE CHOSE TO BUILD ITS FUTURE THE OTHER SQUANDERED ITS FUTURE TODAY
By Laurence Izegbu
1. MY RECENT EXPERIENCE IN AKWA IBOM
I recently travelled to Akwa Ibom State to deliver a training programme on sustainability in oil and gas. What I saw upon landing at the Victor Attah International Airport was astonishing. For a moment, I thought I was in Europe.
The service delivery was excellent. The facilities were modern and innovative. The airport was busy and efficient, with Ibom Air aircraft lined up on the tarmac like Emirates Air.
From the airport, we drove on smooth, nylon-tarred roads into a capital city that was visibly planned and alive. Six -star hotels and tourism centres welcomed guests.
Artificial lakes and recreational parks dotted Uyo’s landscape. This was not accidental. It was deliberate, strategic and development.
But that was not even the most striking part. The citizens were friendly, and the government was even more welcoming. I saw a state governed by a clear development plan. The name of Senator Godswill Akpabio is celebrated everywhere because of his strategic vision and the landmark projects he delivered between 2007 and 2015.
His successor, Governor Udom Emmanuel, followed that pattern and did more. The current Governor, Umo Eno, has consolidated on those gains and is expanding them.
In Akwa Ibom, a Governor can be accessed easily. The state searches for talent and welcomes ideas. It encourages entrepreneurship and has deliberately leveraged its oil and gas wealth and 13% derivation funds to transform the state.
They decentralised the state capital, siting strategic government offices in Eket, Ikot Ekpene, and Oron to spread development and decongest Uyo.
2. VERIFIABLE MEGA SUCCESSES IN AKWA IBOM
Akwa Ibom did not become a reference point by chance. The state turned oil wealth into visible, verifiable assets:
Sector Mega Project / Achievement Impact
Aviation Ibom Air – Launched 2019. State-owned airline with 9 aircraft as of 2026. Profitable and rated Nigeria’s most on-time carrier. Over 500 direct jobs, opened Uyo to business and tourism.
Maritime Ibom Deep Seaport – $2.016 billion project with Bolloré and PowerChina. Federal approval secured. Construction ongoing. Will serve as West Africa’s deepest port, 16.5m draft.
Industry Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing** – Africa’s largest syringe factory. Capacity: 400 million units annually. Exports to ECOWAS, employs over 500.
Industry Kings Flour Mill – 500MT/day capacity. St. Gabriel Coconut Refinery – Processes 300,000 coconuts daily. Industrial value chain, reduced food imports.
Energy Ibom Power Plant– 191MW, supplies Uyo and environs. **Ibom Industrial City** – Gas-based industrial hub. Stable power for industries, anchor for FDI.
Infrastructure 10-lane Idongesit Nkanga Airport Road , 27km Uyo-Ikot Ekpene Road, Eket-Etinan Road Dualized, lit, and maintained.
FDI Magnet
Sterling Petrochemical & Fertilizer Ltd – $3.5B ethanol and fertilizer plant in Eastern Obolo.
Sterling Global Plant Largest in West Africa. Same investor that abandoned Ndokwa in Delta now investing billions in Akwa Ibom.
Planning Uyo Capital City Development Authority Enforced masterplan, drainage, and greenery.
Foreign investors are everywhere, yet the state is not done. It is still exploring new horizons. Akwa Ibom understood one truth: oil is the seed, not the fruit. You plant it with policy and harvest industries.
3. THE DELTA STATE CONTRAST: A SHAMEFUL DECLINE
When I returned to my hotel room that evening, I was overcome with sadness. I asked myself: What has my state, Delta, done with its oil wealth?
The very region where oil was first discovered in Nigeria looks like a war-torn zone. Warri, Koko, Isoko, and Ndokwa — despite trillions allocated from FAAC and 13% derivation since 1999 — lie in shambles.
Here is Delta’s report card after 27 years of oil windfall:
Sector Delta State Reality
Aviation Zero state airline. Asaba Airport underperforms. No cargo or maintenance hub.
Maritime Warri Port and Koko Port moribund. Despite being Federal Ports, Delta has no complementary state investment.
Industry Zero functional state-owned industry. No syringe factory, no flour mill, no refinery. Warri Refinery shut after over $2.5B spent on turnaround since 2015.
Infrastructure Potholes in state capital Asaba. 5km roads,Uncompleted bridges celebrated with billboards. No dualized intercity highway completed in 8 years.
Power Zero state power plant despite having 40% of Nigeria’s gas reserves. Cities run on generators.
FDI Sterling Global abandoned Delta. No $1B+ private investment landed in 8 years.
Capital City Asaba no sleep 6 to 6 , vulnerable young girls roaming the street, with drug traders along Okpanam road.
Darkness is government policy. No tourism centre, no artificial lake, no skyline.
Oil Communities Ndokwa, Isoko, Itsekiri,Warri , Ijaw areas have no modern hospitals, no world-class schools, no tarred roads. Gas is flared while homes stay dark.
4. HOW DELTA POLITICIANS BEHAVE: THE CULT OF THIN GODS
Delta’s failure is not just about projects. It is about a political culture that rewards sycophancy and punishes competence.
Our politicians behave like thin gods. They drive N200 million SUVs on broken roads. They fly in private jets while the airport they built cannot attract one international flight.
They live in mansions powered by 24-hour generators in a state that sits on the largest gas deposits in West Africa, yet cannot give its citizens 6 hours of electricity.
Oil companies in Delta State are not building gas plants or industries because the government is not creating a business environment. There are no incentives, no ease of doing business, no protection of investment. Instead, government sponsors a lavish lifestyle. It hires thousands of Executive Assistants, Special Assistants, and Senior Special Assistants without giving them responsibilities.
The wage bill for aides alone can fund a technical college.
In Delta State, the only time government officials, leaders, and billionaires gather together is when they are attending burial ceremonies or birthday parties for their principals.
They will not organise a summit where leaders, officials, and the private sector meet to discuss the problems facing the state and proffer solutions.
They can organise political meetings to plan how to win the next election, but they cannot organise a meeting to present the problems facing the state.
They hide behind education and office to steal from the people. No integrity, no vision, no ideology. All they need is praise. They do not need ideas. They do not want to meet citizens in town hall meetings for political, economic, and social interaction.
They are not building the next level of leaders to take over. They appoint mediocre people into strategic positions because of loyalty and a mentality to remain in power.
They do not know what priority means. They celebrate “achievements” on social media while their citizens suffer. A governor commissions a culvert and 200 aides trend it for a year on social media.
The political leaders who are supposed to offer advice and critique the system are complicit. None can oppose the government publicly. None can walk away with integrity. It is a rotten system, and they celebrate it.
They complain in private because they know the government has failed the people, but they cannot complain publicly for fear of losing patronage.
The result: The masses suffer while a few privileged political elites get richer. Delta exports brains and imports blame. Our best engineers build for Dangote. Our best doctors save lives in London. Our best thinkers design policy for other states and nations.
5. MY ADVICE TO DELTANS
My advice to every Deltan is simple: travel to Akwa Ibom.* Take your family to Uyo for a weekend. Drive through their roads. Fly Ibom Air. Visit their syringe factory. See how a state can plan, execute, and consolidate. See how oil wealth can become airlines, factories, ports, and jobs instead of excuses.
You cannot demand change until you see what is possible. Akwa Ibom is not in America. It is your neighbour. Same Niger Delta. Same 13% derivation. Different results.
6. ROBUST ADVICE TO DELTA STATE GOVERNMENT
Oil is not forever. The wealth you control today is a trust for future generations. Here is how to use it before it becomes worthless:
A. Leverage Gas to Generate Power and Attract FDI
1. Declare a Delta Gas Masterplan: Delta holds over 40% of Nigeria’s proven gas reserves. Yet we flare gas while Akwa Ibom powers cities. Partner with Seplat, Agip, and Heritage to build a 500MW Delta IPP. Dedicate 200MW to a “Delta Industrial Corridor” from Warri to Kwale.
2. Create Gas-Based Industries: The world is moving from crude to gas. Offer free land and 5-year tax holidays for fertilizer, methanol, and petrochemical plants. Akwa Ibom got Sterling Global to commit $3.5B. Delta can get $10B if it stops flaring and starts pricing.
B. Fix the Business Environment
3. Set up a Delta Investment Promotion Office with a 30-day SLA: No investor waits 18 months for a C of O. Give it legal backing. If a file stays 30 days without approval, it is deemed approved.
4. Revive Warri and Koko Ports with State Equity: You cannot wait for FG. Take 40% equity, dredge the channels, and concession it. Cargo determines prosperity.
5. Kill the “Thin God” Culture:* Sell 80% of government SUVs. Use the money to buy transformers. Ban commissioning of projects under ₦1B. If it cannot employ 100 people, do not call the press for useless publicity .
C. Build Leaders, Not Aides
6. Slash Aides and Fund a Delta Talent Programme: Engage 1,000 EAs and give them new skills. Block chain technology, AI, coding, robotics, renewable energy and many more, equip them for future and stop wasting the lives of these youths by giving them free money.
7. Appoint Competence Over Loyalty: A commissioner who cannot attract one industry in 2 years should be sacked, not praised. Set KPI for them and not just to driving SUVs with police escorts. They are wasting public funds, that must stop.
D. Prioritise Oil Producing Areas
8. *Create an Oil City Development Commission:* 50% of 13% derivation must go directly to Warri, Ndokwa, Isoko, Itsekiri, and Ijaw LGAs. Build world-class hospitals, technical schools, and tarred roads there first. If oil comes from Ndokwa, Ndokwa should not look like Sambisa.
Finally, remember this: governments change. A new administration can come suddenly and decide to audit the activities of past leaders. It is at that moment that many will realise their mistakes. The time to act is now, while you still have the resources, the authority, and the chance to write a different story.
A state richer than Akwa Ibom has no excuse for having zero investment, while Akwa Ibom explores the skies with nine aircraft, builds industries, and creates jobs.
Delta can rise. But it must first choose to stop sinking.
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